Melba Crate

Melba Lee Williams CrateOctober 15, 1914 June 4, 2007Melba Lee Crate passed away peacefully at home on Monday, June 4, 2007.She was born to Jennie Brown Hollomon Dink and Dock Say Williams on October 15, 1914 at the old Hollomon Place on Goat Creek Road in Kerr County. Her early years were spent in happy and sometimes mischievous play with her cousins, Guy, Kyle and Margaret Hollomon Watson. When she started school, Dock built a cozy house on Lytle Street. In that home later destroyed by fire with most of the memorabilia from those early years she began the piano lessons that would become a focus of her life. She provided piano accompaniment throughout her years at Tivy and fell in love with her handsome coeditor of the Tivy annual. She was among the first women graduates of Schreiner Institute and shared fond memories of teaching in a oneroom schoolhouse at Balcones.On June 5, 1937 70 years ago she and Harry William Crate were married at her home by the Reverend McCay. After living in Houston while Harry Bill finished his masters at Rice University, they moved back to Kerrville, where he joined the Schreiner faculty, and they were both closely involved in campus life for the next 40 years. She taught piano in their home until the 1990s. Beginning in the late 1960s, she taught piano to Schreiner students for credit, sowing the seeds of the music program at Schreiner.Melba Lees lifelong involvement in church life began as a child in the Methodist church, and continued in the First Presbyterian Church of Kerrville after her marriage. She taught Sunday School on a regular basis, was president of the Womens Circle, and continued to play piano for her Sunday school class until the late 1990s. In her homebound years, she looked forward to contact through Circle meetings and the sacrament being brought to her home.The twinkle in her eye and her gentle spirit will continue to live for generations to come in the lives of the people she has touched. Melba Lee is survived by husband Harry Bill, son Searle, daughter Jenny Lou, 4 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, hundreds of piano students and countless friendsextended family.ation will be held, Sunday, June 10, 2007 from 3 5 PM at Kerrville Funeral Home, 1221 Junction Highway, Kerrville, Texas. A Funeral Service will be held on Monday, June 11, 2007 at 11 AM at First Presbyterian Church, Schreiner Chapel, with a Reception following for everyone in Ryan Hall. Interment will conclude the services in Nichols Cemetery at 1:30 PM.In lieu of floral tributes, the family suggests memorial contributions be made in memory of Melba Lee Crate to the Schreiner University Music Department, CMB 6201, 2100 Memorial Blvd, Kerrville, Texas, 78028.Arrangements are under the direction and personal care of Kerrville Funeral Home.

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