Melba Lucille Arthur Wiley Mcdonald

 Melba Lucille Arthur Wiley McDonald 
 
 Visitation will be held at Robert Barham Family Funeral Home on Wednesday, May 23, from 5 – 7 p.m. with a graveside service on Thursday May 24 at 11 a.m. at Hebron Baptist Church with Joe Lynn Joyner and Richard Wallace (“Doc”) officiating. 

 After fighting the good fight of the Lord’s faithful servant, Melba Lucille Arthur Wiley McDonald, 90, of Meridian, MS, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her children, grandchildren and sisters on Monday morning, May 21, 2018. 

 Born October 4, 1927, in Brighton, Tennessee, she was the daughter of Roy Arthur and Margaret Lucille Craig Arthur.  The fourth of nine children, Melba was preceded in death by brothers James Willard “Brock” Arthur, Douglas Layton Arthur, Roy Arthur, Jr., and William Ralph Arthur (“Bill”), and sister, Mary Steen, and is survived by sisters, Jean Heffernan, Fay Kennedy, Beverly Wood, and her honorary sister, Sue Arthur, widow of Bill. 

 “A noble wife is the crown of her husband’ (Proverbs 12:4).  Melba was the crown of Henry Raymond Wiley until the Lord called him home in 1950.  Our heavenly Father knew she still had many seeds to sow as a good wife and mother and brought Commander Edward Leo McDonald into her life; they wed in 1955.  As his wife, she was his crown for nearly fifty years, until he preceded her in death in 2005.  She is survived by her five children and their spouses, Daniel Wiley and his wife, Jean, of Troy, Tenn., Claudia Wiley Roaldson and her husband, Quentin, of Munford, Tenn., Janette Wiley Berg and her husband, Randy, of Brandon, Commander Mark McDonald, U.S. Navy and his wife, Lynda, of Meridian, Millie McDonald Didlake and her husband, Dr. Ralph Didlake, of Madison, twelve grandchildren, seventeen great-grandchildren, and one great, great grandchild. 

 Melba’s love for her family was second only to her love for the Lord.  She knew her children were a gift from the Lord (Psalm 127:3-5) and she spent her life teaching her children and their children “in a way that fit[] their needs, [so] even when they are old, they will not leave the right path.”  (Proverbs 22:6).  She went about doing “everything without complaining or arguing” (Philippians 2:14-15).  She was a woman who feared the Lord, and for that she should be praised, (Proverbs 21:30-31). 

 Her children, Danny, Claudia, Janette, Mark and Millie rise up, and call her blessed. (Proverbs 31:28), and invite you to celebrate the life of a virtuous woman. 

 Pallbearers will be Glenn Harper, Leland Harper, Kenny Smith, Wade Johnson, Derek Roberts, and Bruce Murphy. 

 Honorary pallbearers will be Donnie Mathis, Donald Goodman, Lanoyette Smith, Stevie Smith, Paul McDonald and little masters Xander Long and Cooper Hughes. 

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