Melva C. Black, 86, Herrick

Melva C. Black, 86, of Pana and formerly of Herrick, died at 6:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008, at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield.

Graveside services will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday in Price Cemetery in Shelby County, with Allen Ebbler officiating. There will be no visitation. Wallace-Carroll Funeral Home in Herrick was in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Black was born on Jan. 30, 1922, in Shelby County, the daughter of Charles and Grace Thralls Walker. She married Gale Oliver Black on March 20, 1944, in Taylorville.

She was the coordinator for Herrick Peace Meals, and was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. She was reared on Oconee Township, Shelby County, and graduated from Tower Hill High School.

She is survived by sons, Gary Beck of Sand Springs, Okla., Terry Black and his wife Kathy of Moweaqua, Steve Black and his wife Donna of Junction City, Kan., and Tom Black and his wife Donna of St. Jacob; daughter, Patty and her husband Steven King of Sapulpa, Okla.; grandchildren; and great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband; daughters, Melva Loy Becki and Becky West; brothers, Fay, Tom and Monroe Walker; sisters, Marilla Dorn, Juanita Dowdy, Odessa Beveridge, Charlotte Jones and Daisy Seitz.