Melba Rogers Soule, 96, died on December 7, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. Melba attended the University of Arkansas, where she was a member of Delta Gamma sorority and a Razorback Beauty. She also attended Columbia University Teacher’s College in New York City. Before her marriage she was Music Supervisor at the Arkansas State Vocational High School in Huntsville, AR and taught private voice, piano and elocution lessons. On September 19, 1942, she married Charles Tipton Soule. She worked for the Arkansas Welfare Department before moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1954. She was a vital part of Soule Oil Company, Inc. with her husband for many years. She also was a Broker Associate with Merrill Lynch Realty Company in Tulsa. They were founding members of Asbury Methodist Church. In Tulsa, she was active in several civic groups, serving on the board of Tulsa Opera Guild, Tulsa Cerebral Palsy Association, and Southern Belles Garden Club. She was a member of the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions Committee. She was an active participant in many musical and dramatic productions most of her adult life. She and her husband moved to Bella Vista, Arkansas in 1984. She was a member of the Bella Vista First United Methodist Church where she sang in the Chancel Choir and the Praise Singers Choir. She was a member of the Bella Vista Woman’s Chorus and the Andante Music Club. She was a poet and vocal soloist. Her family and friends were delighted to receive one of her original poems or song parodies. She loved to make them laugh. She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years in 1994, four brothers and one sister, and one granddaughter, Laura Paulding Belt. She is survived by two daughters, Kitty Soule Paulding of Crowley, Texas, and Carol Soule Bell of Charlotte, NC, two grandchildren, Ryan Paulding and Melanie Bell, ten great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at St. Francis Village Protestant Fellowship, 281 St. Clare Dr., Crowley, TX on Wednesday, December 28 at 2:00 PM. Interment will be at the Dallas-Fort Worth Veterans Cemetery under the direction of Mayfield Kiser Funeral Home, with Rev. Ken Parlin officiating. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Francis Village Protestant Fellowship, or the Susan G Komen Foundation. Condolences may be sent to Kitty Paulding, 110 Madonna Circle, Crowley TX 76036 or Carol Bell, 7222 Fortrose Lane, Charlotte, NC 28277.
