Bio of Doug Ericson

Well let me just say that Heavenly Father has very been good to me. I am one of the happiest people on earth. I have the perfect life. I have been able to do things that are only dreams for others. A little over fourteen years ago I married a beautiful woman from Spain that I met at BYU one summer as I was there playing softball, taking some classes and looking for a wife. We have four children ages 13, and soon to be 11, 9 and 7. Our only girl is our second child. I definitely married up. The Lord was preparing her for me without me knowing. My wife, Angeles, didn't get baptized until five years after my mission. Then she served a mission in Sevilla, Spain. After which she came to San Jose, California to be a nanny, then a year later to BYU to study English. In the past 14 years we have gone to Spain about 6 or 7 times. Paella sure beats beans and rice all you gallo pinto fans.

The world sure is small. Three years ago in the Madrid Temple there was a sister checking out clothes by the name of Sister Fish. I asked where she was from and she said Arizona. I then asked her if by chance she had a son that served his mission in Central America in the mid-70s. She replied she had and then I told her that I was his old companion. Later that day her husband came up and introduced himself and said he wanted to know more about his son on his mission because he did crazy things, like getting in a cage with a leopard and taking pictures. As I turned red I had to inform  him that I was his companion that took those photos and I got in the cage as well. Have you ever been a witness couple where the session is in Portuguese, the prayer circle is in French which you mumble through, you listen to it in English, and the room is so full you have to carry your chair with you when you change rooms? Well you should go to Madrid for a great experience and a beautiful temple.

Since graduating from BYU I have been a school teacher for 18 years in Kuna, Idaho (15 minutes out of Boise). I started out as a Spanish teacher, but for the last 8 years I have taught World Cultures to the freshmen. Some feel it a punishment looking at many of my mission slides, but for the most part those slides are what the students like best during the whole school year. During these 18 years of teaching I have coached State Champions in Girls Basketball (Teaching skills I honed in on playing with you guys in San Pete, Managua and San Jose. Remember loser always had to buy. If I remember right I was always fortunate to be on the winning team when pop was on the line, Ensa Uva), the Triple Jump and of course the High Jump. I have been a track coach now for 18 years with short stints in basketball and volleyball. The best part of teaching is that I am at home to play with my kids at 3:30 and when they have vacation I have vacation. My kids have gone hunting and fishing with me more times than most people do in a lifetime. If you ask them what they want to do, the first response is to go camping and fishing or bird hunting. That's what this life is all about, families doing things together that create memories.

The gospel has been the center of our lives. We have grown in every calling we have had and no matter what it has been our children have supported us and have not complained. My wife and I have the goal to go to Spain on a mission as soon as our kids leave the home. Click on the picture to see the beautiful castle behind.