Myra Mabel "Mel" Black was born in Coal City, Alabama, to Clifton and May Savage Black. Mel was one of 9 surviving children.
She graduated from Florence State Teachers College, now the Univ of North Alabama, with a teaching degree and moved to Sheffield to teach. Later she would work for the TVA in the Sheffield/Florence area, where she met James Burgess, an electrical engineer for the TVA. They married after his WWII service and had two daughters, moving to his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, and then to Bethesda, Maryland, where he accepted a job as nuclear engineer for the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mel worked for the local senior high school. After they retired, James came down with emphesyma. After his death in 1985, Mel moved to North Carolina to be near her daughters and grandchildren. She was a very special Grandmommy to them for 25 years and was severely missed after she died a few months before her 96th birthday.
Everyone who knew her remarked about her pleasant sweet caring personality. She was a wonderful listener. But it was to her family, to her husband especially, that she was truly devoted.
She loved her country and was very proud to be able to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.
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Thank you to volunteer contributor bur3bet for researching the above biographical sketch and parental links for use on this memoial page. jer 05/22/2015
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She graduated from Florence State Teachers College, now the Univ of North Alabama, with a teaching degree and moved to Sheffield to teach. Later she would work for the TVA in the Sheffield/Florence area, where she met James Burgess, an electrical engineer for the TVA. They married after his WWII service and had two daughters, moving to his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, and then to Bethesda, Maryland, where he accepted a job as nuclear engineer for the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mel worked for the local senior high school. After they retired, James came down with emphesyma. After his death in 1985, Mel moved to North Carolina to be near her daughters and grandchildren. She was a very special Grandmommy to them for 25 years and was severely missed after she died a few months before her 96th birthday.
Everyone who knew her remarked about her pleasant sweet caring personality. She was a wonderful listener. But it was to her family, to her husband especially, that she was truly devoted.
She loved her country and was very proud to be able to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.
**********
Thank you to volunteer contributor bur3bet for researching the above biographical sketch and parental links for use on this memoial page. jer 05/22/2015
**********
Myra Mabel "Mel" Black was born in Coal City, Alabama, to Clifton and May Savage Black. Mel was one of 9 surviving children.
She graduated from Florence State Teachers College, now the Univ of North Alabama, with a teaching degree and moved to Sheffield to teach. Later she would work for the TVA in the Sheffield/Florence area, where she met James Burgess, an electrical engineer for the TVA. They married after his WWII service and had two daughters, moving to his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, and then to Bethesda, Maryland, where he accepted a job as nuclear engineer for the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mel worked for the local senior high school. After they retired, James came down with emphesyma. After his death in 1985, Mel moved to North Carolina to be near her daughters and grandchildren. She was a very special Grandmommy to them for 25 years and was severely missed after she died a few months before her 96th birthday.
Everyone who knew her remarked about her pleasant sweet caring personality. She was a wonderful listener. But it was to her family, to her husband especially, that she was truly devoted.
She loved her country and was very proud to be able to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.
**********
Thank you to volunteer contributor bur3bet for researching the above biographical sketch and parental links for use on this memoial page. jer 05/22/2015
**********
She graduated from Florence State Teachers College, now the Univ of North Alabama, with a teaching degree and moved to Sheffield to teach. Later she would work for the TVA in the Sheffield/Florence area, where she met James Burgess, an electrical engineer for the TVA. They married after his WWII service and had two daughters, moving to his hometown of Petersburg, Virginia, and then to Bethesda, Maryland, where he accepted a job as nuclear engineer for the Atomic Energy Commission.
Mel worked for the local senior high school. After they retired, James came down with emphesyma. After his death in 1985, Mel moved to North Carolina to be near her daughters and grandchildren. She was a very special Grandmommy to them for 25 years and was severely missed after she died a few months before her 96th birthday.
Everyone who knew her remarked about her pleasant sweet caring personality. She was a wonderful listener. But it was to her family, to her husband especially, that she was truly devoted.
She loved her country and was very proud to be able to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery with her husband.
**********
Thank you to volunteer contributor bur3bet for researching the above biographical sketch and parental links for use on this memoial page. jer 05/22/2015
**********
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BELOVED WIFE
& MOTHER
Gravesite Details
Interment on October 21, 2011
