Verna E. Mellinger

Leetonia - April 14, 2009 - Verna E. Mellinger, 93, of 230 High Street, died at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday at the Salem Community Hospital.

Mrs. Mellinger was born June 2, 1915 in Youngstown, a daughter of Albert W. and Sue Clarke Koehler and had lived in this area all of her life. She was a 1933 graduate of South High School and studied piano for 8 years at the St. Louis Conservatory. She transferred to harp and took advanced studies at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea.

She was a harpist with the Youngstown Symphony, the Thompson Funeral Home, and the Fred B. King Funeral Home, all of Youngstown and on various radio stations in the area.

She later worked for the former DanDee Pretzel Company in Leetonia and was a letter carrier for the U. S. Postal Service in Leetonia for 18 years, retiring in 1985.

She was a co-organizer and den mother of Cub Scout Pack 37 and was the first treasurer and charter member of the Columbiana County Genealogical Society. She was also a member of the National Association of Letter Carriers #385, the Ohio Genealogical Society, the Germantown Mennonite Society, the Beaver Township Historical Society, the Tri-State Historical and Genealogical Society, and the Lancaster Mennonite & Historical Society.

Her husband, Edward W. Mellinger, whom she married December 6, 1944 died on December 21, 1985.

She is survived by a son, Ira (Marjorie) Mellinger of Twinsburg, OH.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Saturday at the Woods-Rettig Funeral Home, Leetonia, with Pastor Kari Lankford officiating. Burial will follow in Oakdale Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home from 1:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that material tributes take the form of a donation to St. Paul's Lutheran Church, PO Box 167, Leetonia, OH 44431.