Bio of David Bergin

After serving in only 3 countries (I missed Panama), I returned home on a Friday in 1977 and started school at BYU on Tuesday. In 1979, former Granada companion Bruce Call introduced me to Christi Crosby. We were married in 1980. We both earned PhDs in education at Stanford, spent 1 year at the University of Illinois in research positions, and then lived in Toledo, Ohio for 13 years. I recently took a job teaching at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

One of our 4 kids is at BYU, and another will be in fall 2003. In recent years I have served as bishop, high counselor, and stake young men's counselor. In recent years my family has canoed the wilderness areas of Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario and skiied Utah. We enjoy the outdoors, but don't get out enough.

Life with our kids: Parents took a 2-day escape vacation to St. Louis, leaving 18-year-old in charge. Parents called from St. Louis to see if all was well: Female Teen: Your life stinks mom! I can’t get anything done. All I do is drive kids places and then pick them up again. Mom: I know my life stinks. That’s why I escaped. Female Teen: Oh………Are you coming back?

Parents return home from an errand: Mom: Why didn’t you put the leftovers away? Oh, I see you put away the chicken, but not the corn. Male Teen: Of course. Corn does not have to be refrigerated. It grows outdoors. Dad: So do chickens. Male Teen: But chickens were alive and now they’re dead. They have to be refrigerated. You don’t see farmers cutting their corn and refrigerating it.

I served in San Pedro Sula, La Kennedy, Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, Desamparados, Hatillo, Alajuelita, Granada, Leon. Knee surgery in Costa Rica was an experience that I won’t forget. It turned out OK, but if you are ever in the same position, you might want to use U.S. health services. While I sat around the mission office recovering from knee surgery, Dave Holmes told me funny stories about Arizona basketball, dating, and the mission.

I think that one of the biggest temptations of the mission was to go swimming. I remember being sorely tempted particularly in Nicaragua at a place that I think was called Laguna Apollo as well as in Leon, Granada and Las Boquitas. Wow, the water was beautiful! Of course, there was some pretty nasty water too, as you may recall.