Fay Gibson was born on March 24, 1931 in Wise County, Va., the daughter of Gillis Grant Gibson, a coal miner, and Era Smith Gibson. At the age of two, her family left Virginia for Missouri. She graduated from Chanute High School in 1949. Callie Faye and Sterling Melton were married there in 1952. Sterling preceded her in death in 1997. Through the years she was a member of Hoyt Baptist Church, Mayetta Christian Church, Country Chapel of Topeka and Northland Christian Church in Topeka, and Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky.

Her survivors include daughters Rhonda, of the Nashville, Tenn. area, and Rita, and son John, in Grapevine, Texas; five granddaughters; two great-granddaughters and one great-grandson; sisters Thelma Donaldson of Utah, Geneva Bonham of Idaho, Eunice Breiner, Chanute, Billie Wells of Colorado and Annette Bloomquist, Wichita.

A memorial service is planned for Saturday, March 10 at 10 a.m. at Prairie Home Cemetery in Topeka.