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Obituaries

Melvin treasured education, family

By Lisa Neves Woldt

Campbell resident Willie Floyd Melvin was born in Canute, Okla., in 1912 and almost 100 years later, two brothers and a sister, all in their 90s, buried him in California.

Melvin, a veteran of World War II, died on Feb. 23 at age 94.

Melvin grew up on the family farm with nine siblings and his parents, Murray and Maggie. The family grew corn and cotton for profit, alfalfa for the farm animals, and vegetables for the family. Murray Melvin died when Willie was 14, so the siblings became responsible for managing the farm.

His son, Johnnie Melvin, called his father "down to earth and country at heart," a man who had been raised with a solid work ethic.

Melvin graduated from Canute High School and served in the Army during World War ll, where he was a technician 4th grade in the Engineer Combat Battalion. After the war he attended Kirkville Teachers College in Missouri on the GI Bill. Then he followed his brothers to California. Melvin married his wife of 63 years, Sadie Mai, and settled in Campbell in 1956 on Hardy Avenue.

Johnnie Melvin said his father loved Campbell, which had a rural environment in the late 1950s. He appreciated the wealth of orchards, big lots and the good school system, especially Campbell High School, his son said.

A jack of all trades, Melvin built a home in Oklahoma and Missouri and then worked in construction during the 1960s and '70s as a foreman on large projects in the Santa Clara Valley. He also worked as a truck and school bus driver, plumber, builder, farmer, handyman and teacher. Eventually he settled on the plumbing trade, where he worked for 50 years as a member of the Plumbers Union Local 393.

"He was a man of honor," said daughter-in-law Pamela Melvin, during the memorial service, "who trusted unconditionally, loved, helped and forgave unconditionally."

Melvin was an educated man who loved history and anything Western. His favorite movie was Gunfight at the OK Corral. An avid reader, his favorite authors were Louis L'Amour and James Michener. Johnnie Melvin said his family didn't go out to eat often, but when they did they went the old Chuck Wagon restaurants or for barbecue.

Johnnie Melvin, a teacher at Prospect High School, said it was his father who inspired his children, Josephine Kinzel of Gilroy and Carolyn Myers of Los Altos, to become educators.