In July, Goshen County – and America – gained another U.S. citizen. Torrington resident Nok Merrigan moved to this country in 2009 from Thailand, where she was born and raised.
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TORRINGTON – In July, Goshen County – and America – gained another U.S. citizen. Torrington resident Nok Merrigan moved to this country in 2009 from Thailand, where she was born and raised.
“I was born in Bangkok, and (grew up) about an hour away in Chonburi,” Nok said. “I got married when I was 19, in 2005, and moved here when I was 24.”
Nok met husband, Court, through friends during his tenure at a college in her home country.
“It was a blind date,” Court said. “She showed up for our day on the beach with her whole family – cousins and everyone.”
The pair hit it off, and in 2007, Nok visited America when she was around six months pregnant with the Merrigans’ first child, Ada.
“We applied for a green card for her and got rejected,” Court said. “We had to apply again … it took more than a year to get a green card. Nine years ago, we eventually got accepted.”
The Merrigans moved to the U.S. when Ada was about a year-and-a-half old.
“I taught myself some English – Ada taught me a lot of English,” Nok said. “She’d correct me.”
Nok also took ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at Western Nebraska Community College during the Merrigans’ year as residents in Scottsbluff, Neb. She said English is “so different” than Thai and was very difficult to learn.
But Nok didn’t stop there.
She enrolled in certified nursing assistant (CNA) courses at Eastern Wyoming College under instructor Gwen Yung, and currently works at Goshen Healthcare Community in Torrington.
“I had to work really hard,” she said.
In October of last year, Nok set U.S. citizenship in her sights.
After submitting several documents, undergoing biometric screening, a background check, and more, the Merrigans waited.
Nok studied U.S. history and civics every night for six months, with the help of instructor Diane McQueen at EWC.
Finally, on July 16, at a naturalization ceremony in Cheyenne in front of three federal judges, and with loved ones in tow, 15 people from 13 countries became American citizens. Nok was the only person representing Thailand.
“It’s not easy,” she said of the naturalization process.
“She’s equal in all rights and responsibilities as someone who came over on the Mayflower,” Merrigan said. “(People) have the opportunity to become Americans – it’s pretty cool. She’d been here almost 10 years, why not?”
The Merrigans celebrated with Asian cuisine and plan to host a party in the near future in honor of Nok’s new citizenship.
“I think it’s cool in this country, because it doesn’t matter – you don’t have to be white to be American,” she said. “Citizenship is not tied to one ethnicity or one religion.”
