Laconia---Marion Elizabeth “Libby” Melville, 87, of 25 Union Avenue died on Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at the Lakes Region General Hospital.
Libby was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1923 and was raised in rural Maryland by her beloved great aunt and uncle, Rachel and Francis Key Markland. She married William Melville who died in 1980, and had four daughters.
Libby loved infants. Living in Malden, Mass., she cared for unwanted newborns until they were adopted and cried when each one left. In the late 1960’s, to get her girls out of the city, she moved her family into a house on five acres in New Hampshire. She taught her daughters to make-do with wood heat, a dug well and no other house in sight. She worked all her life.
In 1972, she and her husband bought the West St. Superette in Concord, N.H. When he died during a break-in in 1980, she ran the store alone for nearly two years. When it sold, she moved to Laconia and worked taking care of the priests at St. Joseph’s.
She got her driving license at 50 and loved it. Often she drove to Cape Cod to visit a friend, her parakeet chirping in his cage, buckled in beside her. At 65, she drove alone, round-trip, from New Hampshire to Florida, taking a route through the mountains.
Her body aged, but her mind and spirit did not. She loved her grandchildren, Christmas and chocolate. She was the oldest person to ride the Polar Express in 2007. She traveled extensively but loved New Hampshire best.
Her spare money went to three causes – disabled vets, elders on the Lakota Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and Smiles, where she paid monthly for one year to repair the cleft lip and palate of one child.
She was strong. At 56, she could still paint the exterior of a two-story house and plant and harvest a ½ acre garden. She said, born earlier, she would have been a pioneer.
To the last moment, she was strong, smart and loving. Moments before passing away, she said to an arriving grandson who had driven three hours, “Bless Your Heart”. Then she kissed the hand of another one, as her granddaughters wrapped themselves around her on the bed.
She was grateful for the smallest pleasures and believed her entire life had been blessed. Her family is heartbroken.
Libby is survived by four daughters, Theresa R. Wax of Plymouth, Mass., Kathleen Brock and her husband, Gary, of Laconia, Patricia N. Sommers and her husband, Warren, of Laconia and Sherry Melville of Belmont; eight grandchildren, Shane, Kiersten, Aaron, Josh, Heather, Eirikur, Zack and Steffie; five great grandchildren, Korey, Vitalia, Isabella, Alison and Gabriel. In addition to parents and her husband, Libby was predeceased by a grandson, Matthew.
There will be no calling hours.
A private funeral service will be held.
Burial will be in the family lot in Blossom Hill Cemetery, Concord, N.H.
For those who wish, the family suggests that memorial donations be made to the New Hampshire Humane Society, PO Box 572, Laconia, NH 03247 or to SmileTrain, PO Box 96231, Washington, D.C. 20090-6231.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N. H. is assisting the family. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.