Melvin Courtney

Melvin Courtney, age 102, of Gatesville passed away Saturday, December 28, 2013. Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 31, 2013, at Scott’s Funeral Home Chapel. Burial will follow at Restland Cemetery. Visitation will be 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., Monday, December 30, 2013. Melvin Courtney was born in December, 1911, near Lufkin, Texas, the seventh of nine children of Sam and Laura Courtney. In 1926, most of his family moved to Abilene, Texas, where he graduated from high school and was awarded a two-year scholarship to Abilene Christian College. The Great Depression had begun, and his family moved back to East Texas, however, Melvin found a family in Abilene willing to provide a home for him in exchange for chores so that he could attend and complete college. During his last two years in college, he worked in the college’s business offices to pay for his tuition. He graduated with honors in 1934 with a major in Business Administration and in Education. On August 17, 1934, he married Lela Maude Hix. During their nearly 69 years of marriage, they lived the first year in El Paso County, where he taught school for $75 per month, and the next year they moved to McCaulley in Fisher County, where he accepted the position as teacher of math and business subjects in high school. He also served as coach of boys’ athletic activities, which included the school’s first six-man football team. In 1940, he was appointed rural mail carrier for that community, and in 1951, he transferred to a rural route in Austin so their daughter could attend the University of Texas. During his 31 year postal career, he served on the board of the Texas Rural Letter Carrier Association, and received several outstanding service awards, in addition to safe driving awards. Two years after Melvin’s retirement from the U. S. Postal Service in 1971, he and Lela moved to Gatesville to be near their daughter and her family. They made many trips with a travel trailer for 17 years after retirement, often accompanied by relatives and friends. He was a member of the Gatesville Church of Christ, where he served 12 years as a Bible class teacher and as an elder. He had also served as an elder for two Austin congregations: University Avenue Church of Christ and Brykerwoods Church of Christ. He was preceded in death by his wife of 69 years, Lela, in 2003. Melvin outlived all of his family except for his daughter, Laura White and her husband, Dale of Gatesville; two granddaughters, Michele Thompson and husband, Dale, and Suzanne White, all of Austin; great-granddaughter, Courtney Nichols, also of Austin; four nieces, Edyth Davis and husband, Stacy of Jacksonville, TX, Karen Courtney of Dallas, Linda Crump and husband, James of Orange, TX, and Lynne Diehl of Asheville, NC; and several great-nieces and great-nephews. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be made to one’s favorite charity or church.