Three generations of local family working as massage therapists

Published On: July 10, 2025

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Quilici, left, at N-Balance Massage with her son, middle, and granddaughter | Rett Nelson, EastIdahoNews.com

The Blackfoot Although Terri Quilici never intended to become a massage therapist, she has been managing her own clinic for seven years and finds it difficult to handle the volume of clients she receives.

In 2018, the 57-year-old woman opened N-Balance Massage, which she operates from her Blackfoot home at 175 North 300 West. Every week, she attends to about 35 individuals.

Quilici informs EastIdahoNews.com that the majority of her clientele are booked out for the entire year.

The thing she is most excited about is seeing family members follow in her footsteps, even if she is happy to have achieved success in something she discovered later in life. Evan Merkley, her son, works part-time as a massage therapist at her clinic and also holds a position at Bingham Healthcare.

Abigayl Sanderson, Quilici’s granddaughter, is also pursuing a degree to become a massage therapist.

Knowing that her family has chosen massage therapy as their career for three generations brings Quilici joy.

“I feel so good about it,” Quilici says. I can see that I will eventually retire and be able to pass it on to them.

But because she loves it so much, Quilici is keen to point out that she probably won’t ever really retire.

“If I am physically capable, I could see myself working at 80,” she says.

Quilici’s path to massage therapy began following a lengthy nursing career. She remembers desiring a change after caring for her mother in Arkansas just before she passed away.

Years ago, she worked as a broker to assist a friend finance a massage parlor in Idaho Falls. Quilici’s friend invited her to get a massage, even though she had never had one before.

Quilici remembers, “I’m like, I don’t really want people touching me.” I thought I could definitely do this the entire time I went to have the massage.

She received her license after attending the Blackfoot College of Massage Therapy.

After seven years, she continues to work with clients throughout eastern Idaho, and she finds the most fulfillment in assisting people in resolving physical concerns.

Since then, Evan has also obtained his license to practice massage treatment. After a brief military career, the 36-year-old received it in 2021.

Over the years, he has battled mental health issues, which massage treatment has assisted him in overcoming.

He chose this professional route because of his experience and the possibility of working for himself.

Similarly, Sanderson, 18, claims that massage therapy intrigued her and had a minor impact on her recuperation from a high school vehicle accident.

According to Sanderson, my grandmother rubbed my shoulder after I tore a few muscles there. The most of my wounds were to my face.

Quilici attended the same program as Merkley and Sanderson.

Sanderson occasionally works in her grandmother’s clinic to gain experience treating patients, even though she is still pursuing her license.

Sanderson likes to observe the positive effects of massage therapy on the human body.

In school, I taught that although people may not always express their needs or feelings to you, their bodies will. “You simply need to pay attention to the body,” Sanderson explains.

Sanderson’s short-term objective is to get her grandmother to retire so she can take over the business, but her long-term ambition is to travel while working as a massage therapist.

She is eager to continue pursuing her license in the interim.

According to Quilici, she and her spouse intend to retire when she turns sixty-two. She intends to continue working with clients till then.

They permit spousal retirement because he works for the train. By then, I will be officially retired, but I will continue to work, she explains.

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