Jennifer Shaffer Merry

Jennifer obtained her bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Classics from the University of Arizona, specializing in classical archaeology. She spent the next several years working in real estate, eventually leaving to manage the front office of a small medical practice and then as special operations assistant in a privately owned engineering firm. Realizing none of these things fulfilled her dreams, she obtained her Master's degree in History from ASU. She has worked on educational projects with SRP and the Arizona Memory Project, and spent a few years as the News Content Coordinator for the Arizona State Library and Archives, handling the newspaper collection in all its forms - paper, microfilm, and digital. She has also worked for the Arizona Historical Society, and Scottsdale Historic Preservation. She is a member of several genealogy organizations such as the Arizona Council for Professional Genealogists, Daughters of the American Revolution, and the National Genealogy Society. She is chair of the Arizona chapter for the Association for Gravestone Studies, and part of a committe for national cemetery law discussions. She is active on the board for the Maricopa County Justice Museum and Learning Center, and the Preservation Committee for the Pioneers' Cemetery Association. Her interests are family history research methods, cemetery preservation methods, and cemetery law reform. When she isn't out hiking with her dogs and husband, she works on both fiction and non-fiction writing projects.