She graduated from Panama High School and received a Business Management Degree from Draughn Business College in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
She was married to Robert Dean Smith on August 21st, 1952.
Melvena had a career in Civil Services. She was a Coordinator for Family Services in Sacramento, California and as a Compliance Assurance Officer at Hughes Aircraft in Tucson, Arizona. She also was a Librarian for the Military Storage Distribution Center (MASDC) at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. She then moved into an Accounting Position at the Finance Office for the 100th Strategic Wing. After retirement from her Civil Service Career, she became the Financial Director for Brockett Electric, an electrical contractor in Tucson. From there, she became the Office Manager for a group of doctors at the Southern Arizona Mental Health Corporation and later moved into their Payroll Department. She finally decided she had done her duty for the workforce and moved into her most cherished career as a full time Grandmother, also known as NaNa. This involved burning up the roads whenever a new grandchild or great-grandchild was born.
She is survived by the husband of her youth, Robert Dean Smith, of Tucson; her three children: Robert Dean Jr. and his wife, Belinda, of Sommerville, Georgia, Richard Daniel and his wife, Pam of Bryant, Arkansas, and Rhonda Denise, of Tucson. She is also survived by her brother, James Neal and his wife, Billie, of Fairland, Oklahoma. She had many years of enjoyment with her grandchildren: Bobbie Sue Smith, April Edgeworth, and Sara Butcher, of Georgia; Richard Smith and Kathryn Crymes, of Arkansas; Becky Dehler and Clinton Hamlett, of Tucson and numerous great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren survive her as well.
Funeral Services will be held at East Lawn Palms Mortuary on Monday, October 30th, 2017 at 2:00 pm, with a public viewing at 1:00 pm. A reception will follow the committal at East Lawn Palms Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Gospel Rescue Mission of Tucson at www.grmtucson.com.
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