Melba Jo Anderson

Melba Jo Anderson of Smith Mountain Lake died Friday at age 77 at the Emeritus of Roanoke Memory Care Community after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Melba was born on August 13, 1935 to the late E.L. Rose and Willie Pearl Rose on an oil lease in Bastrop County, Texas during the depression. At age 7 the family moved to Lockhart, Texas where she graduated from high school in 1952. She earned a B.S. in Education from what was then Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) in San Marcos in 1956 and then a Master’s in Education from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth. After teaching English and history for several years in Texas and Maryland, Melba joined the Peace Corps. She was in the first group to what was then British Honduras (now Belize). She worked for two years in the town of Corozal. Melba, along with a British missionary and another British volunteer, started the first protestant high school (Fletcher College) in the northern part of the country. Her time in the Peace Corps was one of the highlights of Melba’s life.

Upon returning to the states Melba was employed by the National Weather Service to coordinate visits by scientists from around the world to tour NWS facilities. Eric, her future husband, worked in the same building. A couple of the men in Eric’s office played cupid by arranging for Melba to go on a tour with some of the young hydrologists in the office. It worked! They were married on May 25, 1965. After getting married, Melba returned to teaching for a few years. When their first daughter was born in 1968, Melba stopped teaching to raise a family. Largely through her efforts the girls turned out to be intelligent, confident, and very nice women. Later Melba returned to teaching; first part time and then full time for 5 years. She taught a variety of subjects in the ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) department in Montgomery County, Maryland.

In 1995 Melba and Eric retired and moved to Smith Mountain Lake. Melba taught some GED courses in Franklin County and volunteered at the Booker T. Washington monument and at the D-Day Memorial. She was also very active in the Roanoke Parkinson’s disease support group. Besides enjoying the water and many lake activities, Melba and Eric loved to hike. They hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. Melba was a member of the Wednesday work crew of the Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club. She really missed the outings and the camaraderie when she had to discontinue going with the group due to the progression of her Parkinson’s disease. Melba and Eric also had a townhouse in Colorado for a number of years and spent parts of each year hiking in the mountains, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and exploring many parts of the intermountain west.

Melba is survived by her husband, Eric, and her daughters, Kris Meyers of Roanoke and Erin Spink of Atlanta, son-in-law Tim Spink, four grandchildren (Ben and Jon Meyers and Kiley and Broden Sprink), brother Ronald Rose of San Antonio, Texas, and sister Myrna Lynn Rose of Silver Spring, Maryland.

The family would like to thank the staff of Emeritus at Roanoke for the excellent care Melba received over the last 6 months. In honor of her memory donations can be made to the American Parkinson’s Disease Association (apdaparkinson.org), the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (pdf.org), or the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (appalachiantrail.org).

A memorial service will be held to celebrate Melba’s life at the Trinity Ecumenical Parish at Smith Mountain Lake on Saturday, February 9th at 11 am 2013. Arrangements by Flora Funeral Service and Cremation Center, Rocky Mount/Smith Mountain Lake.