Merlin Lamar Wilson

The year? 2016. The place? Bear Lake Utah. The reason? A good old-fashioned Merlin Wilson family reunion. A marshmallow war was on the agenda that day. Grandpa Merlin provided everyone with PVC pipes and materials to make their own shooters. Then, grandpa went to work building his masterpiece. With expertise, he crafted the most accurate and deadly marshmallow shooter on Earth. He aimed and hit every target with eerie accuracy and struck awe and a little terror into the hearts of his children and grandchildren. How could something so sweet hurt so badly?

This was a pattern for his life...well except for the fear and terror part. Merlin built his faith, his family, businesses and the kingdom of God on Earth. He took aim and hit his targets of being an amazing husband, father, leader and disciple of Christ. His life was a masterpiece filled with diligence, determination and dignity. We are all still in awe of him.

Merlin Lamar Wilson, was born on September 18, 1952 in Downey, Idaho. He spent his early years in Lava Hot Springs working on the family farm, herding sheep with his cousin and helping out in the family's little gas station in town. This early start built an unparalleled work ethic which he carried throughout his life. Later, his family moved to Burley, Idaho where he attended high school and served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Italy North mission. Merlin loved motorcycles and tried to impress his future wife, Ramona, by showing up at the Dairy Queen drive-thru wearing a leather jacket, chaps, red bandana and driving a Harley to ask her out on a date. After much convincing, they dated about 9 months and were married in the Idaho Falls temple on January 20, 1976. In May of the same year, Merlin took Ramona to her senior prom (yep, that's the actual timeline) and they had their first child in November. They continued building their family with three more girls and that was just the beginning of their adventure! Merlin always aimed for the best for his family, which led them to move all over the country including to Illinois, Hawaii, New Jersey, South Carolina, Kearns, West Valley and ultimately settling in South Jordan, UT.

Merlin loved music and had an eclectic music collection. He taught his girls to love everything from James Taylor to Lionel Ritchie, Kenny Chesney to INXS, Journey to Simon and Garfunkel and everything in between. With true dad humor, he loved to make up lyrics to popular songs his teenage girls listened to. He made up the classic lyrics, "I ate the fish sticks for lunch, cuz that was all that they'd give to me" (Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love") and "I've got a booger on my finger, do you have to let it linger?" (Cranberries' "Linger"). He loved to play the guitar and continued to build and share his talent throughout his life. If you couldn't find him, he'd almost always be in the basement jamming out and welcomed anyone else to join him including friends, fellow missionaries and especially his grandsons.

Merlin also aimed high in sports. He trained for and ran 10+ marathons and countless half marathons, 10 and 5ks. He played volleyball in the Huntsman Senior Games every year since he was 55. This fall would have been his 20th year participating.

Merlin was always building his family's faith by teaching them the gospel through his example and through study. Many Sunday evenings he invited his daughters to ask any gospel questions they had no matter how weird or unanswerable. They would always try to stump him, but he never missed the target and everyone always went away feeling the spirit and a little bit smarter in the gospel.

Merlin aimed his whole life towards Jesus Christ. He served in many different capacities in the church and in his community, including 30+ years with the Boy Scouts of America and many Young Men's programs. Once he even bought a 15 passenger van just to transport the youth basketball teams to their weekly games. He served in two bishoprics and as a Bishop. He also served with YSA wards, as a ward missionary and as a temple worker at the Jordan River Temple and as a worker and engineer in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. One of his greatest aims was to serve a senior mission with Ramona. After much discussion and hard work, they hit that target when he and Ramona were called to the Winnipeg, Canada mission and served from January 2025 to January 2026. They worked in the office and handled mission apartments and vehicles. All the missionaries loved them and many have visited them since they returned home. Maybe one of the only targets he ever missed was keeping up the streak of "days with no avoidable accidents"! But, he did his best to keep those missionaries safe on the road.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Ira and Esther Wilson, his parents-in-law, Bryce and Mona Allred, his brother, Wade Wilson and a nephew, Brian Allred. He is survived by his wife, Ramona, and his daughters, Carina (Andy) Both, Heather (Joey) Cooper, Heidi (Ben) Horsley and Stephanie (Ben) Harding, 16 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren with two on the way next year! He built a life filled with faith, joy, and humor. He aimed for heaven and hit worthy and righteous targets all along the way. We could not have asked for a more Christlike husband, father and grandfather. He endured valiantly to the end.

The family would like to thank everyone who helped him and us in the end. Thank you, Kenna, for your empathy and hugs. Thanks, Bill, for your after hours and weekend help. You are a machine. Everyone from Utah Home Hospice was amazingly caring. Sue, we never would have survived without you! We're so glad you're retired. The Highland 7th Ward Relief Society fed us physically and spiritually with their kindness. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by family and friends at this time.

Merlin's viewing will be held Tuesday, October 27th at McDougal Funeral Home located at

4330 S Redwood Rd from 6-8 pm. Funeral will be October 28th at 10 am at the Highland 7th Ward building located on 10115 S Yorkshire Dr. in South Jordan with a viewing between

9-9:45 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family would love for you to contribute a memory of Merlin to this QR code or make a donation to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.