Meet Marcia Burell

Marcia's family lived in Ridgeland South Carolina when she was born. It was a small two stop light town. The nearest hospital was 30 miles away in Savannah Georgia, so Marcia was born in Georgia. She grew up a small town southern Mormon girl. Her mother joined the church before she was born and her father, although not active in the church, always supported her mother in taking the kids to church.

Growing up in Ridgeland was the stuff country western songs are made of. They lived 30 miles from the coast. Next door to them lived Marcia's grandma who was raising 4 of her grandchildren. This was great fun for Marcia and her 3 siblings. They always had someone to play with and when they wanted to get away, they would just go next door to grandma's. They would spend the evening catching fireflies and playing Hail Over. This game was played by half the group of kids standing on one side of the house and half on the other. They would yell, "Hail over," The ball would be throw over the house. Then the other team would catch the ball and try to run to the other side without getting caught. (clearly the homes were smaller back then )   

The weather is very warm in the South part of South Carolina so most of time Marcia lived in shorts and bare feet. They would pack up pineapple sandwiches (white bread, mayo and pineapple) and go eat them at the beach. There was always a fair amount of sand mixed into the sandwich, but they were kids and starving after swimming so they didn't care. Marcia also remembers taking pine straw (the pine needles) and creating the outline of a house. She and her cousin would play house there for hours.

Then there was the big oak tree, Marcia would spend hours up there reading. They didn't have a very big library in Ridgeland, so whenever her mom would go shopping in Savannah, Marcia would beg her for a new Nancy Drew book. Once she got the book, she's head right out to the tree. The book would be finished by sundown. Marcia's mom would shake her head and say, «You read too fast. »

Marcia's parents also had a farm and a big garden. She and her siblings spent a lot of time working. They would sell the watermelon, squash and cucumbers they grew to buyers up north. They shipped the produce in 18 wheelers. To get the squash ready to be sold they had to be washed. Not one speck of dirt could be left on the squash or it would get embedded into the flesh and ruin the product. The family had a large vat type tub. They would fill the vat up with water and pour in the squash. The squash would float and they would clean them off. After all the cleaning, they'd empty the vat and refill it with water. They Marcia and whoever helped that day would go swimming in the vat. It was great fun.

Marcia went to Jr. High and High School in the late 60's and early 70's. It was a time of great changes in the south. Segregation was coming to an end and the schools were experiencing forced integration between black and white students. When Marcia entered the 9th grade, total integration of black and white schools began. Black and white teachers were put into different schools, as well as students. During this time, many private schools came into being in the south. Marcia's parents really wanted to support what the government was doing with integrating the races. They weren't prejudice and wanted to see the experiment work. They sent Marcia to public school. Unfortunately, the experiment did not help Marcia's education. She spent most of the year grading papers and writing tests for teachers instead of being taught while the teachers wandered the halls. (She's not sure why) Also during that year the school received many bomb threats. During the bomb threats, the students would all go outside on the lawn and wait until they were cleared to go back into the building.  There was never a bomb and it became so common that the students would all laugh and play around outside on the lawn while the always MIA bomb was looked for.

Because Marcia wasn't getting an education at the public school, her parents enrolled her in a private school for the rest of her high school years. It was very small. She graduated with a class of 30 students. She played basket ball one year of high school and the rest of the time, she worked as a waitress saving money for college. However, her class opened a concession stand every day at school. They saved the money and at the end of the year they had enough money to pay for all of them to go to Disneyworld and the Bahamas!

After high school Marcia went to Ricks College for a year. She like the school, but the weather was so COLD! The wind would blow all the time and there were 6 foot snow banks along the sidewalks. It was more than a southern girl could handle. The next year she went to BYU. She really like Provo but she needed money to keep going to school. So after a year she quit, got an apartment and started saving money. She quickly realized she could save more money if she lived at home without living expenses so she went on home to South Carolina.

She started waiting tables again. One day a very handsome young man walked in. She found out he was new around and was working at the Piggly Wiggly grocery store. So she would frequently volunteer to run errands for her mother to the Piggly Wiggly. After about 2 weeks he asked her out. He wasn't a member of the church, so even though Marcia really liked him, she just didn't see the relationship going anywhere. In May, she and her sister packed up and drove back to Provo to enroll in summer semester. She stayed at BYU clear up until the last day when you could drop your summer classes. Then she found out her young man was getting baptized. She immediately dropped all her classes and headed home. She was smitten. A year later they went to the Washington DC temple and were married.

For a little while after they were married, they lived on Marcia's parent's farm. They had a pond on the farm. Well a big old alligator made his way from the swamp into the pond. He was mean! One day he even chases her husband up into a tree. They started wondering if the alligator was possessed when one day he was out swimming in the pond and her husband came walking toward the pond. The Alligator stood up on his tail and hind legs and started circling the pond. (Marcia said she has never seen an alligator do that and in fact, didn't know they could.) He then started coming out of the water so her husband got out of there quick. Since Marcia had a little boy at this time, and even though it was against the law, that alligator met an untimely death by facing the end of Marcia's daddy's shotgun. Any mother can certainly understand the relief that brought to their family.

Marcia's husband kept working in the grocery store industry. He became a trouble shoot manager, so anywhere there was a problem he was moved in. That made for a lot of moving for the family. They moved every year the kids were small. They lived in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Nebraska and South Dakota. In the all the southern states they lived in, they lived in many different cities. Moving around was hard and especially on the kids, but Marcia says it was good to be exposed to so many different situations. They also met some very wonderful people and became very good friends with some.

Living outside of Utah most of her life has given Marcia some wonderful opportunities to serve in the church. She has had a church calling ever since she was 12 years old when she was called to be the Sunday School Secretary. Also commuting to the church was a little more challenging. At one point they lived 13 miles away from the church. She was commuting there for church, mutual and to teach early morning seminary. One thing she loved about church in the south was that no one ever called each other brother and sister. They called each other Aunt and Uncle because everyone became very close.

After 31 years of marriage, Marcia and her husband got divorced. They were living in Rapids City South Dakota. Marcia wanted to live somewhere around family. Her children were all spread out, but she had 2 sisters in Centerville Utah and her daughter Tarrah Randall was living here in Davis County. So Marcia moved to Centerville to live with her sister. She took classes at the DATC and got her CNA license. This has lead to some very interesting and rewarding jobs and opportunities.

At first Marcia worked tending 2 Alzheimer patients. She then started working at Tony Burger as a cashier. From there she started working at the IHC hospital in Murray. She moved into her own apartment and was enjoying her life.

One day Marcia noticed a quarter sized red spot on her breast. She went to the doctor and they gave her an anti-biotic but did tell her there was a possibility it could be a rare form of breast cancer. When the anti-biotic didn't clear up the spot, they did a biopsy. It came back not only as breast cancer, but stage 3 and it had moved into her lymph nodes. That started some very rigorous treatments for Marcia.

She took 6 months off of work. They started chemo. Then she had a mastectomy  and followed everything up with radiation. With the radiation her hair started falling out in bunches. One day she looked down at her lunch plate and found it covered with hair. That was the last straw. It was okay to lose her hair, but not to have it fall in her food. She had Tarrah shave it all off.

She never wore a wig. Instead she embraced the fact that she had cancer. She took great faith that if the Lord wanted her around, she would get better and left it in his hands. She got many priesthood blessings. Sometimes while at the store women would see her bald head and approach her. They would tell her they had been where she was and they got their hair back and were healed. This gave her tremendous hope.

Marcia's cancer did go into remission. She went back to work after 6 months and moved into Tarrah and Rod's basement apartment. She also was promoted at work to Health Unit Coordinator at the hospital where she still works. She loves it and especially the people she works with. She knows she has been preserved for a purpose because she should've died from the cancer. She feels she has a special calling to stand up for families and let people know how important they are.

I asked Marcia is she could impart some advice to everyone what would it be. She said,  "Be grateful everyday you have and let the Lord know it." She also said, "Judgin' is not for us. We don't know what people have been through. We will all pass through the refiner’s fire. Its part of life and there is no room for judgin'." She feels so grateful for the trials she has had in her life because they have made her look at herself and change things.

I had a fantastic time talking with Marcia. She is loving and quick to love everyone. I hope you get the time to hear her stories and be around her southern hospitality. What an asset she is to our ward.