Fay D. Melville

Fay D. Melville of the Town of Waukesha passed away on Tuesday, December 27, 2016 at her home at the age of 88. She was born in Chicago, IL on September 26, 1928, the only child of Percy “Jack” and Dorothy (nee Allen) Wittbold. At the age of 8 her family moved to Park Ridge, IL. Her family had a cottage on Gages Lake in Illinois where she loved to swim and even rode her bicycle from Park Ridge to Gages Lake down Hwy 45. Her favorite color has been pink since she was a little girl, when she had pink ice cream at her first birthday party. As a child, she traveled with her parents to many places including Cuba. She enjoyed visiting her aunt Esther in Michigan every year. Fay was a graduate of Maine East High School in Park Ridge, IL and a 1950 graduate of Carroll College earning a double major in English and Spanish. She met her husband Lee at Carroll College and they married on June 9, 1951. At Carroll, she was a member of the Chi Omega Sorority and was voted one of six Hinky Honies at Carroll in 1948. After college, she worked at the Palmolive Building in Chicago, IL as a secretary for the head of advertising for Kimberly Clark and then worked as a secretary for the President of a Waukesha tank company. She was a member of the Waukesha Service Club. As Chairwoman one year she organized the annual Charity Ball where she obtained a large enough donation to bring in Tex Beneke and his orchestra as the entertainment. She a member and officer of the Toastmistress Club when she won a regional speech contest. She also was a member of the Waukesha Jaycettes.

She was an avid swimmer and won four medals in the Wisconsin Long Course Swimming Championships in 1978 at the age of 49. She loved the outdoors and enjoyed golfing, downhill and cross country skiing and playing tennis - which she could do both right and left-handed. She found great joy in visiting the Smoky Mountains with her husband, Lee as often as she could. She was great at organizing things and arranged an incredible family trip to Yellowstone National Park for her 50th wedding anniversary that her family will never forget. Fay and Lee hosted the Milky Way Tennis Open for 25 years on the 4th of July at their home for 75 to 100 people that people still talk about today.

She had a great flair for decorating and remodeling and painted a beautiful mural on the porch wall of her Florida home. She was a fantastic photographer, and enjoyed knitting and sewing. She wrote exquisite poetry and limericks for her friends and family honoring special events and holidays. Fay was also famous for her chocolate chip cookies, which everyone loved. She liked dogs and birds and could even whistle like a bird. Fay cherished her family and loved being with her husband (who always referred to her as his “bride”), children, and grandchildren.

She will be very sadly missed by her husband of 65 years, Lee of the Town of Waukesha and their children, Debra (Scott) DePauw of Gurnee, IL and David (Sandi) Melville of the Town of Waukesha. She was the proud grandmother of Rebecca (Charles) Jackson, Heather DePauw, Tyler (Jessica) Melville and Jacob Melville and great-grandmother of Charlie and Ryan. She is further survived by cousins, other relatives and friends.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, December 31, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. until the time of the 11:30 a.m. funeral service at the Randle-Dable-Brisk Funeral Home, 1110 S. Grand Ave., Waukesha. Private interment will be at Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Union Grove. Memorials in Fay’s name are appreciated to the Alzheimer’s Association Southeastern WI Chapter, 620 S. 76th Street, Suite 160, Milwaukee, WI 53214.