Melba J. Fitton

Melba Joe Fitton passed away December 27, 2022 in her home at Meadows Place surrounded by family, friends, and caregivers. She was tenderly cared for by such an amazing gentle team. Melba was able to tell them she loved them all.

Melba was preceded in death by her much-loved husband Ed Fitton. At the time of his death, they had been married 69 years, 362 days. She was also preceded in death by her mother and father, Melvin and Esther Hunt of Exeter, California, as well as four of her five siblings. Her younger sister, Peggy McFall, lives in Alameda, California.

Melba was born in Lubbock Texas. When the depression began, her family moved to Exeter,  California where her father began a trucking company hauling the abundant fruit of the area.

Melba met her husband Ed in a tiny mining town called “Mineral King” in the Sierra Nevada mountains where they both had high school summer jobs in the cabin resort there. They were married June 28, 1945 during the Second World War.  During their life together they returned often to Mineral King to camp in their very own special spot with their children and many nieces and nephews.

Melba is survived by her two children and their spouses - Lon and Liz Fitton of Mt. Shasta, California and Alice and Don Dyk of Quincy, Washington. She is also survived by Don Sweet and his wife Cindy of Salem Oregon, who became a member of the family while going to high school. Melba also has four grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

There will be a gathering in Melba’s honor at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 7, 2023 at the Ellensburg Church of Christ building, 408 S. Maple Avenue in Ellensburg.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Johnston & Williams Funeral Home and Crematory of Ellensburg.  Online condolences may be left at www.johnston-williams.com

To read an article published in the Ellensburg Daily Record, highlighting Melba's 100th birthday this last summer, click here .