Billy Joe Melton

Funeral services for Billy Joe Melton will be 3:00 p.m. Monday, September 19, 2011, at the Alva First United Methodist Church with Rev. Terry Martindale officiating. Interment will be in the Alva Municipal Cemetery under the direction of Marshall Funeral Home of Alva. Billy Joe Melton, son of the late Henry Isaac and Nellie Mildred (Sale) Melton, was born August 29, 1936, at the family residence on a farm west of Alva, and passed away September 15, 2011, at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, at the age of 75 years and 16 days. Joe attended McKeever School, graduating from Dacoma High School, and attended Northwestern State College for two years. He proudly served in the United States Army and was stationed in Korea. On June 15, 1957, he was united in marriage to Jo Anne Murray at the Greenvalley Free Methodist Church. They lived in Liberal, Kansas for five years where he worked for Panhandle Eastern. He then worked as a bookkeeper for the Denver-Rio Grande Railroad in Denver until 1965, returning to Alva where he was employed by the Alva Farmers Cooperative as the new fertilizer plant manager and later the Hopeton elevator manager. In June, 1979, he and Jo Anne opened a Montgomery Ward Catalog Sales Agency, beginning his many years of appliance sales and service. In October, 1983, while still operating the Montgomery Ward store, they opened J & J Appliance, where he still worked at the time of his death. He also farmed and ranched for a time. Joe was a member of the Alva First United Methodist Church and Alva Masonic Lodge #105. He enjoyed gardening, woodworking, and could fix just about anything that was broken. As a devoted family man, he loved being with his children and grandchildren. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by two brothers, Charles Melton and Lee Melton; and one sister Wilma Ruth Melton. Joe is survived by his wife, Jo Anne, of Alva; one son, Billy Joe "Joey? Melton, Jr. of Alva; three daughters, Jonella Kay Rathgeber and husband, Mark, of Alva, Jolisa Melton Dobbs and husband, Steve, of Dallas, Texas, and Jody Annette Melton Witt and husband, Greg, of San Francisco, California; two brothers, James A. Melton and wife, Elma, of Wichita, Kansas, and D. Russell Melton of Lakewood, Colorado; sister-in-law, Adella Melton, of Dover, Delaware; and sister and brother-in-law, Rita (Murray) and Chuck Polf, of Alva; and a special family friend, Julie Heasley of Alva. Also surviving are ten grandchildren, Elizabeth, Allison and Andrew Rathgeber, all of Alva, Constance Baio and husband, Stephen, of McKinney, Texas, Jacquelyn Melton and Josephine Melton, both of Alva, Henry, Alexander, and William Dobbs, all of Dallas, and Adeline Witt of San Francisco; and his great grandchild, Lillian Baio; other relatives and many friends. Memorial contributions may be made through the funeral home to the Billy Joe Melton Family Academic Scholarship, Alva Goldbug Educational Foundation.

Billy Joe Melton

August 29, 1936 - September 15, 2011