She was born March 29, 1921 in Great Falls, Montana to Orval and Hildegard (Freise) Melby. After 10 years in Tacoma, the family moved to Yakima in 1936. Lucetta graduated from Yakima High School in the class of 1938 ½.
She met Richard J Walker when the Yakima ice arena opened the fall of 1940. She married Richard (Dick) Walker, July 20, 1943 at the Army Airforce Base in Eagle Pass, Texas, where Dick was a flight instructor for fighter pilots as well as a pilot himself during World War II. They returned to Yakima at the end of the war to the house where Dick was born and raised.
During the 73 plus years of marriage they raised 4 girls and many acres of apple orchards in the Cowiche and Yakima areas. After retirement in 1982 they spent twenty years traveling to Scandinavian countries, Europe and boating in the San Juan Islands from their home in Shelter Bay, LaConner, WA. They returned to Yakima in 2001.
Lucetta found sewing at a very early age and was an accomplished seamstress and knitter for herself, Dick and their four daughters. She shared her cooking and sewing skills with a group of 4H girls in Cowiche for 5 years. An extra special interest began at age 30, which was handweaving and spinning. She became a master weaver attending classes in Europe and New Zealand. She wove fabric and had a sports jacket made for Dick at Lee Semons Men’s store in Yakima. She continued this skill till her early 90’s.
Lucetta was a very involved member of Junior Aid of Yakima, Weavers Guild of Yakima and Whidby Island. Lucetta and Dick loved dancing with their Charter Club friends of Yakima.
She was preceded in death by her parents and sister Shirley Melby (1946) and Dick at 99, August 31, 2016. She is survived by her 4 daughters, Patricia (Ken) Kroger, Carolyn (Jim) Castino, Sarah (Jim) Voss, and Gretchen (Bob) Shepherd), eight grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. All 39 of us were together in Yakima for a family Easter & 98 birthday celebration last Saturday.
Our loved ones are gift to us. Their presence a blessing when they are on this earth. After they have gone, we morn….and then we celebrate the life they lived, the love they shared, the difference they made for having been in our lives.
A graveside service will be held Thursday, May 9th, 2019 @10 Am, Terrace Heights, Yakima, WA
