Michelle Elaine Mericka was born June 20, 1944 in Locke, New York. She received medical corpsman training in the US Army and was honorably discharged in 1965 in San Francisco, CA. She moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon to work for the US Forest Service. She relocated to the Tri-Cities and started her own medical transcribing business, supporting several doctors in the area. Later, she joined Battelle in November 1979 and worked as a Technical Editor until she retired in September 2005. Michelle was an avid reader and enjoyed spending her time making latch hook rugs, knitting and needle point; playing tile games, cards and mystery-solving games on the computer. She had a huge collection of jigsaw puzzles and shared them with others. She was known for her green thumb and tended many house plants. She enjoyed camping with friends, family and especially the family dogs. Michelle was a loving wife and cared deeply for others. She was known for her determination, sense of humor, quick wit as well as her sarcasm. She was "Mom" to the dogs in our family, including Pooh, Biscuit, Muffin, Champagne and Caviar. They reunited with Mom at the Rainbow Bridge. She is survived by her husband of 28 years, Ray Gerk; Sister-in-law Betty Harris (Herb and daughter Wendy and son Mark) of Santa Fe, New Mexico; Brother-in-law John Gerk (Laurise and daughters Danika, Megan and Josie) of La Mesa, California; and Sister-in-law Lois Purcell (Dave and daughter Lynn) of Pampa, Texas. A family and friends Celebration of Life will be held on Friday, October 28th. Those interested in attending should contact Ray Gerk (raygerk@charter.net) or another family member for planning purposes. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Benton-Franklin Humane Society or Pet Over Population Prevention (POPP).