Melba Faye Yeary Schwertner

Melba Faye Yeary Schwertner, a true lady of impeccable style, boundless grace, and timeless elegance went home to meet her Lord and Saviour on Wednesday evening, May 30, 2012.. Anyone who ever encountered Melba was instantly charmed by her genuine warmth, Texas gentility, and quick mind; anyone who ever crossed her knew they had just met a formidable force .

On May 26, 1928, in Burnet, Texas, Calloway and Zella Keele Yeary welcomed Melba as the middle child into what would become their brood of five. She happily spent her earliest years exploring the hillsides and creekbeds with her siblings. Soon enough, however, life tempered Melba's mettle . Calloway died unexpectedly when she was seven. Without their dad as a provider, eventually money grew very short and Melba stayed home to care for her younger brother while her mother went to work at a local candy kitchen and her siblings worked various other jobs to keep the family afloat. In 1941, Zella succumbed to kidney disease. As sometimes happened to orphans of that day and age, Melba and her siblings were sent away to live with various relatives. She spent the next years surrounded by virtual strangers, fending for herself until she managed to squirrel away enough money to purchase a bus ticket to Lampasas where loving relatives took her in. She graduated from Lampasas High School in 1945 , found herself a job, and began her life as a single, independent woman.

When a friend informed Melba that there was a new English teacher in town that she ought to meet, her response was,”He's probably fat and bald, but run him by and I'll take a look at him.” Rather than the stodgy educator she had expected, Stanley Schwertner turned out to be a dashing young rounder who swept her off her feet. They married in October of 1948 and soon welcomed a son, John, and two years later, a daughter, Lisa. Stanley yearned for his hometown of Schwertner, the little town founded by his grandfather, and so took a job teaching in nearby Bartlett. The family built a house on Stanley's parcel of land west of Schwertner where Melba and Stanley lived for the remainder of their nearly sixty years of marriage. In Schwertner Melba found a return to the family life she had been seeking since her childhood, and she embraced the large and rambunctious Schwertner family clan with ardor. Melba's life became entwined with family and community activities set to a Texas small town beat. A tireless supporter of anything undertaken by her children, she sewed yards and yards of fabric for dance costumes and attended countless ball games cheering for the Bulldogs. Both Johnny and Lisa knew that their mother's smiling face would be in the crowd watching, no matter what their activity might be. When Johnny became a musician, numerous bandmates found a second home in Schwertner and a second mother in Melba. They all looked forward to her warm hospitality as well as her delicious fried chicken.

Faith was a constant in Melba's life and the Bartlett Methodist Church was her faith home. She was a member of numerous ladies' circles and held a variety of leadership roles in the church. Always a social person,she enjoyed her membership in the Woman's Wednesday Club where she was a past president several times over, as well as her many, many years in the Schwertner Ladies' Club. For forty years, Melba was a board member of the Schwertner State Bank. She was also an active member of Lodge 307 of the Sons of Hermann, and later in life spent several years on the Sons of Hermann Youth Committee, a statewide position. When Schwertner lost its voting precinct, Melba, along with others, worked tirelessly until it was reinstated. She was a charter member of the Bartlett Activities Center where she and others spent numerous hours and days restoring the Little Red Schoolhouse from a neglected shell to its current glory. Also a charter member of the Schwertner Community Club, when Melba and Shelia Krueger learned of an opportunity for the club to partner with Williamson County to build a new Community Center, they became a force with which to be reckoned. Melba held a special place in her heart for the fruit of their labor, the current Schwertner Community Center building, the site of many wonderful gatherings.

Of all else in her life, Melba was most proud of her beloved grandchildren, John Karl and Genevieve Irene. As their Nana, her love for them both was awesome, as was their love in return for her. John and Jenny wiled away wonderful happy days with their Nana and Papa, sometimes in the pool eating strawberry shortcake, sometimes at the lake house on Lake Buchanan searching for melty chocolate Easter eggs or decorating the night sky with round after round of 4th of July fireworks. Every year the family Christmas celebration at Nana and Papa's house was a merry-go-round of delicious food, a usually somewhat scrawny tree ladened with colorful packages, and love, love, love abounding. Melba always made certain that Nana and Papa's house was a place of quiet security and serenity for her precious grandchildren when they needed it to be, and a place where they could bring their friends and have a ball at all other times. It is no wonder that both John and Jenny made certain that theirs were among the hands she was holding when she left this Earth.

Welcoming Melba into heaven were her parents,Calloway and Zella Yeary; one brother, Lamar Yeary; her in-laws, John and Irene Schwertner; and her precious grandson ,Sean Christopher Schwertner, as well as her beloved husband, Stanley. She is survived by her sister Catherine Boyd of Burnet, Texas; her sister Jo Nell McMahan and husband Glendower of Lometa, Texas; her brother, Edward Yeary and wife Sherry, of Abilene, Texas; her son, John K. Schwertner of Schwertner, Texas; her daughter and son-in-law Lisa and Sonny Kretzschmar of Georgetown, Texas; her grandson, John Kretzschmar and Stormy King of College Station, Texas; her granddaughter, Genevieve Irene Schwertner and Josh Johnson of Leander, Texas; her angels, Pam McMahen of Georgetown, Texas,and Mary Montalbo of Bartlett, Texas, who took such loving and tender care of Melba in her last months; numerous nieces and nephews,as well as a huge cadre of loving friends.

Melba's family would like to thank Dr. Frank Smalley and Dr. Kirk Nolan for their expert care of her, as well as the staff of the Round Rock Scott and White I.C.U., especially Jerome and Mike for their loving care. Melba/Mother/Nana set the standard for classy ladies and was a jewel to be treasured.. We will miss her every single day and try to live up to the example she set for us to follow. “Well done, thy good and faithful servant.”