In 1939, Cecil Sherrow, a city maintenance worker in the small farming community of Mexico, Mo., and his wife, Helen, welcomed two missionaries into their home. The missionaries taught the Sherrow family, which included three children, and baptized all five in February of that year.
One of the daughters, Emily, 15 at the time, recalled that after their baptism, "We longed to go to the temple, but at that time we couldn't afford it. The closest temple was in Salt Lake City, and my father's income wasn't enough for the trip."The following year, another daughter, Mary Margaret, was born to the family, then two more sons. During this time, Emily met a young man, Joseph McGee, introduced him to the Church and after he was baptized, the two were married in her parents' home.
"We still couldn't afford the cost of a trip to the temple, so we were married by one of the missionaries who had taught my husband," she remembered.
About 18 years later, when Mary Margaret was ready to be married, she and her recently converted fiance decided to go to the Salt Lake Temple to be married. Their wedding date happened to be on Brother McGee's birthday.
"So our family pooled all our resources and decided we would all go to the Salt Lake Temple," Sister McGee recalled. There were 14 people in the Sherrow and McGee families now, and they loaded into two old cars, both built in the previous decade, and drove to Salt Lake City. The cars performed with no mechanical problems and the families arrived June 10, 1958.
"I was just really amazed at the temple," said Sister McGee. "I decided it must be the most beautiful building I had ever seen. It was where I'd always wanted to be since I joined the Church.
"My father and mother and six children were sealed," said Sister McGee. "My husband and I and four children were sealed, and my 19-year-old sister was married to her husband."
In the 39 years since then, she said, more than 30 family members have been married in the temple, and 17 have served full-time missions.
Two more family weddings are planned this month - 39 years since 14 people rode in two old autos from Missouri to Salt Lake City.
