Melba Gloria Yankovich, of Sherman, passed away peacefully Tuesday, Feb. 14 after a brief illness. She was 96.

A funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 at Waldo Funeral Home in Sherman officiated by Scott Sides, minister of Collinsville Church of Christ.

The family will receive visitors at the funeral home for an hour prior to the service.

Interment will follow at Gordonville Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Layne Lewter, Dorsey Jack Lewter, Justin Lewter, Austin Lewter, Jess Lewter and Jackson Lewter.

Melba Gloria Lewter was born May 19, 1926, to Henry Clay and Maggie Norwood Lewter at Gordonville, Texas.

Her parents were founding members of the Gordonville Church of Christ and she was baptized there June 17, 1940.

Melba graduated from Whitesboro High School in 1944. She was a teenager when she met a young GI from Pennsylvania named John Yankovich.

He was a son of a European immigrant coal miner. She was the daughter of a North Texas sharecropper.

They courted while John was stationed at Camp Howze. He was later sent back overseas during which time he wrote Melba a letter every day while he was deployed.

They married Aug. 11, 1946, in Sherman.

The love affair ensued until his death in 2010. Melba worked for Roberts, Sanford and Taylor for more than 20 years. She designed and published their sales catalog.

John’s job at IBM took them all over the country before settling at Austin in 1980.

Aunt Melba doted over four generations of nieces and nephews. She was most happy in the fellowship of family and friends and she would graciously host company at the drop of a hat.

She was the family historian and an astute genealogist.

She was proud of her Grayson County roots and often recalled stories of how the Lewter clan settled at Gordonville shortly after the Civil War.

Melba and John were charter members of Woods Street Church of Christ in Sherman and former members of Brentwood Oaks Church of Christ in Austin.

In addition to her husband and parents, Melba was preceded in death by brother and sister-in-law Dorsey Clay and Dorothy Lewter and sister and brother-in-law Hazel and Hugh Davidson.

She is survived by niece Linda Nelson and husband John of Sherman; nephew Dennis Davidson and wife Georgia of Winfield, Alabama; niece Sherry Dieterich and husband Whit of Shady Shores, Texas; niece Terry West and husband Bob Liner of Houston; nephew Layne Lewter and wife Carrie of Whitesboro; niece Noelle Williams and husband Jon of Corinth, Texas; nephew Dorsey Jack Lewter and wife Jo of Collinsville; nephew Michael Davidson and wife Brianne of Vienna, Virginia; nephew Ryan Davidson of San Diego, California; and numerous other nieces, nephews and extended family.

The family would like to thank Dr. JM Benson as well as the staff of Texoma Healthcare Center in Sherman.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Noel and Jacquita Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o Collinsville Education Foundation, PO Box 595, Collinsville, Texas 76233.

An online registry can be signed at waldofuneralhome.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Waldo Funeral Home.