Melba Fairbourn Smith

to Richard Matthew Fairbourn and Ida Jensen. Ida died when Melba was

23 months old, and she went to live in Murray, Utah with her father’s sister,

Mary Fairbourn Sabine.

The summer after graduation from Murray High School, Melba met her

future husband, Dasil Clawson Smith. She was singing in a girl’s trio, and

he was a clarinetist in the dance band. In the fall of 1939, she entered the

University of Utah. In college, she danced in Orchesis, a national dance

troupe, and was Homecoming Queen in her junior year. She and Dasil

married March 23, 1943, shortly before her graduation. Dasil left

immediately for Panama and was gone until June, 1945, returning when

the war ended.

Dasil entered medical school at the University of Utah in the fall of 1946.

Their first two daughters, Cathleen and Kristen, were born during this time.

Upon graduation, Dasil’s career as a military psychiatrist took the family to

Tacoma, Washington; San Fransisco and Castro Valley, California; San

Antonio, Texas, where their daughter Julie was born, Wiesbaden, Germany,

where their daughter Paula was born, and Wichita Falls, Texas.

Throughout these years, Melba was active in the Officers Wives Club,

assuming various leadership roles, including president.

After Dasil retired from the Air Force, he began a second career as Director

of Mental Health for Santa Clara County, California. The family moved to

Saratoga, California, where Melba designed, and she and Dasil planted, a

beautiful garden on their one acre property. Their final years together were

spent in San Jose, California.

After Dasil died in January, 2005, Melba moved to Texas to be near the

Lindsay family. Soon after, her daughter Julie followed to help care for her.

In June 2016, Melba moved to a residential care home called Jack’s Place,

where she spent the remaining 15 months of her life.

Melba was wonderfully creative, and her home was always filled with

beautiful decorations she had made. She and Dasil were gourmet cooks,

and everyone in the family looked forward to meals at their home. Orchids

were her passion; music a life-long love. She was gracious and witty, and

always beautifully dressed and accessorized. She was an expert

seamstress, and much of her wardrobe she designed and made herself.

Melba was preceded in death by Dasil and is survived by her daughters,

Cathleen Lynne Smith, Portland, Oregon; Kristen Marie Lindsay, Colleyville;

Julie Ann Garst, Bedford; and Paula Kay Murray, San Jose, California. She

has four grandchildren, David Lindsay, Colleyville; Jay Lindsay,

Fredericksburg; Melanie Lindsay, Dallas, and Julian Garst, Mountain

Home, Arkansas. Her four great-grandchildren are Elizabeth Grace

Lindsay and David Andrew Lindsay, Fredericksburg; Michael Robert

Lindsay and Elizabeth Lauren Lindsay, Colleyville.

In lieu of flowers, charitable gifts may be made to Jack’s Place, 519 Essex

Place, Euless, TX 76039.