Merre Bowmaster

Merredith Leann Bowmaster (at one point Kasholm) was a local resident of Big Rapids who proved inspirational to the founder of Dozerfleet Productions. He was romantically interested in her, primarily from January until April of 2009. She would later become the mascot of The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.

Early life
Merre was born on March 22nd of 1983, a week before the Dozerfleet founder himself would be born. Her parents were Big Rapids officer David Bowmaster and his wife, Terry Bowmaster. Merre became a good friend in her youth of one Stephani Balavitch of Paris, MI, who described Merre and herself as "at one point, two peas in a pod."

High school
In high school, Huntington's disease claimed the life of her father. There were fears that she'd inherited it from him; but doctors weren't certain. It was in high school that she met Joe Kasholm, who was entering the military. Given Joe's unwillingness to respect boundaries with her, and her enjoying the attention too much to refuse him, Joe's family urged the two to get married. In the very early 2000s, Merre and Joe married right out of high school. Joe was soon stationed in Virginia. The first few years of their marriage seemed modest; but things took a dark turn after a tragic accident.

Near-fatal accident
Around late 2004, a careless driver turning a corner hit her while she was crossing the street. She became partially incapacitated due to her injuries, and started showing signs of developing manifestations of Huntington's. By 2005, her condition failed to improve. She began to struggle at doing household chores, as these proved very difficult and painful for her, and retreated into watching TV for hours on end. Medical treatment for her bodily pains also proved difficult for Joe to secure.

Divorce
Unsympathetic to her plight and frustrated with having a "lazy" wife, Joe abandoned her at Terry's house. By 2006, the divorce papers were finalized; as Joe made no effort to reconcile with her or her family. Terry became very bitter with the Kasholm family in general, especially Joe. Joe's mother, Irene, grew mistrusting of Terry because of this; although both parties agreed that Joe went too far.

Life after Virginia
Struggling even to walk at times as her condition worsened, Merre led a mostly sedentary, stay-at-home lifestyle under Terry's care, as Terry sought out alternative medicine to keep Merre alive and comfortable. Merre did struggle for a time with a smoking habit that she'd acquired during her time with Joe, though she eventually quit. She loved spending time with her brothers when they visited, or with her former foster brother Mark Gerke and his later-on wife, known then as Kat Piwinska. However, she was especially fond of spending time with her niece, Kelly.

Meeting the Dozerfleet founder
The two parties were introduced to each other through Kat, who often frequented visits to Terry's house to visit with Mark, who was living in Terry's basement at the time. While there was some romantic interest, it became obvious after a few months that the two had no practical future together. They parted ways, though he never stopped loving her. Terry questioned Merre's taste in men after Joe, and generally came to not trust any of Merre's suitors.

Near-fatal head injury
In 2019, an accident in the bathroom of her own home left her with a serious head injury. She was discovered unconscious on the floor, barely alive. Her Huntington's accelerated rapidly after the injury, and she found herself barely able to move. She would be bedridden the remainder of her days. In July of 2019, the Dozerfleet founder got to visit with her one last time. Doctors noticed her worsening condition, and gave her three months to live.

Death
Merre defied the odds, and survived a whole year beyond the injury, too in love with life and family to give up - even when all seemed hopeless. Her mother's health also declined rapidly, resulting in a heart attack that proved fatal. Both mother and daughter were discovered dead on July 9th of 2020. (Incorrectly listed as July 16th on the trailer for The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.) Terry was discovered by her son Keven; and Merre was found to have died while on life support in a hospital in downtown Grand Rapids.

She was allowed to join a program in late 2019 to conduct experimental research to treat her Huntington's, as well as receiving physical therapy. However, federal programs for it could only operate through a joint program with the state. In 2020, amid the Globalist Scamdemic, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer cut funding to Huntington's research and physical therapy, in the name of "covid research." Deprived of this life-saving treatment, Merre's condition continued to worsen, until she was in a near-vegetative state. Her mother lobbied to keep her alive as long as possible; but the hospital declared that it would pull the plug on her life support in July, either on the 10th or the 17th, at its leisure and in keeping with new state guidelines. In effect, Merre had been put on death row, simply for being inconvenient. God decided to take her in advance, to defy the tyrants that had declared her life to be of so little value.

Merre should've had a good life; but was denied it. One would like to believe she has finally been taken to a place where she can finally be all that she was meant to be; but that is for God to decide. This life was cruel, and she never stood a chance.

The Ghost of Big Rapids Living Spirit Past
Angered by the news of what led to her death, the Dozerfleet founder defiantly declared that Merre would become the mascot to the then-new custom Sims 4 stuff pack being released at the time: The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff.

Channeling her love of life, the Ghost of Big Rapids Living Spirit Past (a.k.a., Merre's Echo) in the trailer for this unofficial (not made nor endorsed by EA / Maxis) video game expansion assumes Merre's appearance, and tries to convince a depressed married couple seeking a place to attend college to give Ferris State a try. When the spirit's ruse is betrayed, the couple decide to move to Big Rapids anyway. They dedicate themselves to learning more about the woman who was impersonated, and are depicted as visiting Merre's grave.

In The Merre Edition, which makes Merre's role in the pack more explicit, she is seen as the star of the show. Her only competition for the spotlight comes from other Sims of 2000s-era townies depicted on the cover art: Marianne Evans-Christiansen, Angelica McClary, Chris Wilson, Jimmy Blankenship, and Jackie Blankenship (neé Green.)

As her younger self, the Spirit impersonating Merre restores her likeness to her appearance before her car injury; as the fake Merre is able to walk around and give tours with no pain or difficulty. She uses a sort of nostalgia genie / fairy / what-have-you magic to transform clothing, body physiques, and even the environment in her at-that-moment locale to look more like 2000s-era Big Rapids - similarly to how Krampus in The Gerosha Chronicles can transform Christmas decorations into depressing, colorless mirrors of their former selves.

Abilities and limitations of Merre's Echo
Merre's Echo is one of three Spirits of Big Rapids Living known to exist. Being the second one to bear the title, this spirit is preoccupied with all things Big Rapids during Merre's lifespan, from 1983 until 2020. It has a special preoccupation with Merre's life after she moved back to Big Rapids in 2005, after living out-of-state for a time. It's one major restriction is that it cannot discuss with its targets anything especially particular to Big Rapids living or news that would most definitively take place after the year 2020, since its domain over points in history dies with Merre. While capable of assuming any number of manifest constructs, the spirit loves to assume a form that impersonates Merre, in a form that halfway represents her appearance immediately before her car injury (so she can walk around painlessly without special effort) and her appearance in 2009.

Powers

 * Time travel: Merre's Echo will take its hosts on a journey through time in Big Rapids, and may jump around among different eras. The years 2006-2010 are primary targets for visitation.  While some Back to the Future-type interaction is allowed, most visitation follows the same rules as The Muppet Christmas Carol.
 * Percolation Wave Mastery: Even better than MODM's! Merre's Echo can effortlessly jump its hosts back and forth from a resemblance of our Earth to Crossover Gerosha's Big Rapids to Eccentriaverse Big Rapids to Dromedeverse Big Rapids to Mackleyverse Big Rapids, and to any version of Big Rapids scattered in a pocket dimension amongst those main universes.  So long as it doesn't try to peer into 2021, or venture too far outside of the Big Rapids area in past eras, the Spirit can do this while placing minimal strain on itself.  Normally, it takes beings at least at the power level of Cherinob to pull this off without significant self-strain.  Or, requires reliance on PercoWands or other similar devices that are easily damaged.
 * Extreme makeover: Merre's Echo can, sometimes without consent, transform someone's entire bodily physique to match what it believes they would have looked like in the 2000s if they attended Ferris State during that era. Houses can also be transformed to have a more consistent Big Rapids architecture and aesthetic - though it's debatable if this brings any improvement to the property value.
 * Historical hindsight: Merre's Echo knows pretty much everything there is to know about Big Rapids between the years 1983 and 2020, in every iteration of the Megaverse. He inner almanac is implied to be on par with that of the almanac used by various characters in Back to the Future II.

Critical weakness
If confronted damagingly enough with an element of an era that is post-2020, the spirit may possibly transform into Merre's bed-ridden 2019 form, and fade away. So long as it is not forced to confront anything post-2020, the Spirit will assume its hybrid past form of Merre. This fading process seems to similarly correspond with the way that the Ghost of Christmas Present ages rapidly in The Muppet Christmas Carol. Only, instead of growing a whiter beard as Christmas Eve nears an end and the Future arrives to confront Scrooge, the Big Rapids Spirit depicts Merre at varying stages of Huntington's disease.

Eulogy
On July 19th of 2021, the Dozerfleet founder signed the following notice to Merre's obituary guestbook:

''Though I only got to know her for a short time, mostly in early 2009, Merre left a significant impact on me. When I learned of her impending fate, I was distraught at feeling powerless to save her. After others had been unkind to her, it was difficult enough for me to even earn her trust. It tormented me for years that I could do so little for her. So I have instead dedicated an entire custom game expansion pack that I made to her memory.''

''She may be gone; but may she not be soon forgotten. Maybe someday, Merre, we can have another long walk together. And this time, you'll be the one showing me around. And we'll be able to visit the really great places. No more settling for lunch at McDonald's or cranberry juice at a bowling alley! And where the seraphs dwell, we'll have enough entertainment to not need silly anime or Twilight reruns. Until then, rest secure. Your suffering here is over. Vocational Destiny isn't done with me yet. I'll meet you again if/when I do. Sleep peacefully, my love.''

Trivia

 * Her theme song was "Broken" by Lifehouse, off their 2005 album Who We Are.