Gville woman noted for her community service dies

The daughter of a smalltown sheriff in south Georgia who moved to Gainesville in 1968 and leaves behind a legacy of service to her community and church has died.

Mary Lou Melvin, 81, died a week ago. A celebration of life will be held Wednesday at the First Presbyterian Church in Gainesville.

As her obituary puts it, “she and her late husband, John Melvin, poured their lives into the Gainesville community and local nonprofits with the same joyful passion displayed in their dancing to the music of big bands.”

Melvin’s community service included support of the arts, community theater, local nonprofits, the Girl Scouts, and the Junior League of Gainesville-Hall County. For all of this and more, she was named the Rotary Club of Gainesville’s Woman of the Year in 1990.

As for her church work, she was a former deacon and elder at First Presbyterian.

You can read the full obituary here: Mary Lou Melvin Obituary (2024) – Gainesville, GA – Little & Davenport Funeral Home & Crematory (legacy.com)