Melba Joyce Talley, born April 5, 1940, in Lawton, Oklahoma, stepped peacefully into eternity at home surrounded by loving family on September 29, 2020. Melba married Denver S. Talley on April 10, 1958, and after living a short time in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, moved to Chickasha in 1965. Together they raised three children: Rockey, Cindy, and Carmon. In April of 2020, Denver and Melba celebrated 62 years of marriage with their friends and family.
She began teaching in the public school system in 1970 and taught multiple grades at the elementary school level for 13 years. Also in 1970, the family founded Environmental Chemists, Inc. Termite and Pest Control, which the family continues to operate today. After retiring, she spent the next several years devoted to her grandchildren, her friends, and family. She always loved adventure and travel and always kept her suitcase packed, ready at a moment’s notice to go anywhere she was asked. She was an avid OU Women’s Basketball fan, holding a full row of season tickets for twenty years and attending every game until her health prohibited her from doing so.
She enjoyed the love and friendship of multiple friends and spent many days and evenings enjoying dinner and a movie (or 2 or 3) with “The Gang” and later, lunches with “The Lunch Bunch,” and Tuesdays spent with “The Pizza Girls.”
She was preceded in death by her father, Felton Hall, her step-father, H.O. Williams, her mother, Carmon Jewel Williams, her brothers, Gaylen and Jerry Hall, and her daughter-in-law, Jamie Talley. She is survived by her husband, Denver, one son, Rockey, two daughters, Cindy Andrulonis and Carmon Noland, as well as sons-in-law, Dan Andrulonis and Gary Noland and sister, Mary Ann West. She was blessed with and is survived by nine grandchildren: Clifton, Evan, and Quinton Talley, Conner and Collin Andrulonis, Talley, Olivia, Madelyn, and Meredith Noland, eleven great-grandchildren, an adopted granddaughter from Ghana, Priscilla Mensah, and God Daughters, Leslie and Sarah Tabor.
The family extends their appreciation to Dr. Don Hess, Lifeline Home Health and Hospice, and Around the Clock Care for the care they provided.
The family will be receiving guests at a Visitation on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Ferguson Funeral Home. The funeral will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, October 3 rd at First Baptist Church in Chickasha. Masks will be required at the funeral. Following the service, the burial will be at Fairlawn Cemetery. Memorial contributions can be made to Gideons International, P.O. Box 494, Chickasha, Oklahoma 73018.