By Ricci Taylor, contributing writer
Merry Christmas! Maybe it’s a little early for season’s greetings, but for Merry Christmas Peel, the holiday season is year-round.
Merry Peel, Christmas being her maiden name, was born and raised in Augusta, Ga. She has not only seen the city grow, but also the university.
Throughout her 21 years at ASU, Ms. Peel has seen both buildings and people come and go, but there is one thing that remains the same: “The people in the department are like my family. When my mom died everyone from my department was there, and it felt so comforting to have the department there,” she says. “If your car is broken they’ll fix it,” adds Ms. Peel jokingly.
Ms. Peel is the senior administrative secretary in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science. Her responsibilities range from budgeting, ordering text books, and reserving rooms, to putting together application packets. “I do my part and try to help in any way I possibly can,” she says.
She and her husband of 39 years, Jerry, currently reside in Lincolnton, Ga. Ms. Peel has one daughter, Kimberlee, and two grandsons, Tyler and Trevor, who live in Phoenix, Ariz. Aside from her family at home and at school, Ms. Peel enjoys scrapbooking, stamping, card making, photography, and above all, genealogy, which she says is actually more of an obsession.
“It’s so addicting. You get close and then hit brick walls. It’s almost like solving a mystery. My friends and I joke and say you know you’re a genealogist when you are looking at movie credits for your last name,” she says.
Ms. Peel lives by one motto: “There’s nothing that can happen to me today that me and God can’t handle.”
Name: Merry Christmas Peel
How long with ASU: 21 years
Hobbies: Scrap booking, card making, stamping, photography, and genealogy
Pets: No pets, except a family of deer that reside in her backyard
Family: husband, Jerry; daughter, Kimberlee; grandsons, Tyler and Trevor
Nov 2, 2009
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