Ralph Merick
Steubenville, OH
Photo - 1969
Information - 1999 & 2004
High School Activities - Cadet Choir, Junior Council on World Affairs (Secretary), School Play, National Honor Society, French Club, Yearbook Staff, Geology Club, P.A. Crew, Human Relations Club
After graduating from Maple, I went to Miami U., graduating in 1973. Worked for three years as a (civilian) systems analyst with the Navy Finance Center in downtown Cleveland. I met my wife Donna (a registered nurse and a far better person than I deserve) in 1974 and we married in 1975. It's hard to believe our 25th is coming up.
In 1976 I quit the Finance Center and we moved to Westchester County, New York, where I attended St. Vladimir's Orthodox Seminary till 1979. After finishing there Donna and I moved for 10 months to Kragujevac, Serbia (where the infamous Yugo car was built and which we bombed the hell out of in spring 1999). I served as a deacon at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral there and did some independent study. We also had a chance to travel around Europe quite a bit by rail, visiting many parts of Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg, Italy, and Czechoslovaka. A really great experience.
We came back to the States in 1980 and I was ordained an Orthodox priest, serving a parish in Farrell, Pennsylvania (just across the PA-OH line from Youngstown) till 1986. We moved to Steubenville, Ohio (on the Ohio River about 45 miles west of Pittsburgh) in '86 and have been here ever since. The parish keeps me busy, but in my spare time I'm also editor of the Serbian Orthodox Church's newspaper for the US and Canada, and one of its representatives to the National Council of Churches, among other things.
We have two sons, Nicholas (born 1983) and Michael (born 1986). They are both heavy into soccer and basketball, and of course they keep us running. They are both great kids (so far, anyway) and the center of our lives, naturally, as we try to bring them up right. Nick's a junior, and it's already time to start looking at colleges. We make fairly frequent trips back up to the Cleveland area, where my parents and Donna's family still reside. We try to get up to the Jake a couple of times each season for an Indians game, and we're happy to see the Browns back (now if they would just learn to play football. But at least they beat the Steelers the second time around. Sweet, especially since we live in Pittsburgh's back yard!).
January 2004 update:
Things are going along. Kids are nearly grown (my youngest is a junior in high school) and we are getting older, if not necessarily better! My parents both passed away (mom at the end of 2000, dad in the middle of 2002). My older son is going to school up in the Cleveland area.
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