Mary Josephine Higgins Melton

Mrs. Melton was born in Shreveport, LA, the daughter of the late E. Cutler Dawes and Josephine Cooke Dawes. She was the great niece of Charles Gates Dawes, a former Vice President of the United States. Mrs. Melton attended Columbus Girls School and moved to Rome, GA in 1944 from Atlanta at the age of 16. She graduated from Rome High School with high honors, entered Vassar and transferred to Duke University. Mrs. Melton was President of the Women’s Athletic Association at Duke and a cheerleader. She was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, received a BA in Sociology and received her Master’s Degree in Statistics in 1951, also from Duke. She was married to Fred C. Higgins, Jr., in 1951.

Mrs. Melton worked for Dr. Tom Harbin for 30 years and then with the Dept. of Family and Children’s Services for 15 years before retiring in 2006. She served as secretary of the Coosa Country Club Ladies’ Golf Assn. for many years until 2011. She won several championships within that league. She was the first woman to be inducted into the Rome-Floyd Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. She was ranked in the state and south in tennis singles and doubles and holds two national rankings in mother-daughter doubles with her fourth of five children, Dot Cobb. In 1942 at age 14 she was state badminton champion and also earned AAU medals in swimming for the famed Atlanta-Emory team. In 1946, she was second highest basketball scorer in the state for Rome High and in 1965 won the North GA Ladies Golf title.

From 1982-1994, she served as chairman of the board for the Daweswood Arboretum, Newark, OH, and served on its board of trustees for 27 years prior to becoming chairman. Mrs. Melton played golf 4-5 times a week until Dec., 2011. She loved traveling with her husband, W. Curtis Melton, who preceded her in death in 2008. She was also preceded in death by her first husband, Fred Clay Higgins, Jr., in 1996, and by a son, Fred Clay Higgins, III, in 1990. She loved her family, grandchildren and friends foremost, but also sports (due to knee injuries, she enjoyed golfing whenever she could), traveling, games, reading, gardening, bird watching and volunteering for the Rome-Floyd community.

Survivors include four daughters, Cathy Hefner, Atlanta, Laura Ivie and her husband Hugh, Marietta, Dot Cobb and her husband Tom, Canton, and Jody Hurley, Rome; ten grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren; two sisters, Diana Haynes, and husband Richard, Labadie, MO, and Bertie B. Woods, and husband Wistar, CA; and several nieces and nephews.

A service of celebration was held Monday, October 8, 2012, at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church, Rome, with Dr. Joel Snider officiating. The family received friends at the church from 10 until 11 a.m. at the church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the First Baptist Church Foundation, P. O. Box 1189, Rome, GA 30162-1189 or the Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation Dept., 1 Shorter Ave., Rome, GA 30165.