Melva Kathryn (Peifly) Strauch
April 11, 1916 – March 15, 2003
Salem, Oregon – Melva Kathryn (Peifly) Strauch died with pancreatic cancer on March 15, 2003. Melva was born on April 11, 1916 on Crystal Spring Farm, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania to Irwin and Kate Peifly. She graduated from South Whitehall High School and Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina. She taught Latin, English and some math in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. She married Reverend Paul E. Strauch, a United Church of Christ minister, on July 13, 1941. Paul is a resident of May Cravath Wharton Nursing Home in Pleasant Hill, Tennessee where Paul and Melva were residing in Uplands Retirement Village during the last three years.
The Strauchs lived in various places – in Freemansburg, Pennsylvania; in Buffalo, New York; in Washington, D.C.; in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania; in Danbury, Connecticut; and in a renovated church house in Perry County, Pennsylvania. She was an active member in the churches Paul served. She was a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in various places including Americus, Georgia; for the Newport Public Library for 20 years; for the Junior Red Cross and Fellowship House in Philadelphia. She served as president of Church Women United of the State of Pennsylvania, as well as Philadelphia; Danbury, Connecticut; and Newport, Pennsylvania. She wrote weekly book reviews for three county newspapers in Perry County for eighteen years.
Melva is survived by her husband, Paul, by four sons, John in San Diego, California; Joel in Larchmont, New York; Timothy in Watertown, Wisconsin; and Thomas in Salem, Oregon; seven grandchildren and her sister, Marion, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Melva chose to die in the Death With Dignity Program in Salem, Oregon.
A memorial service is planned in Pleasant Hill Community Church for Saturday, March 29th at 11 am. No flowers, please. Memorial gifts may be sent to Pleasant Hill Community Church, Tony Carter, Treasurer, P.O. Box 167A, Pleasant Hill, TN 38578 for the Hunger Fund of Church Women United in the USA.
Newspapers
Allentown Morning Call, , 101 North 6th St., Allentown, PA 18101, (610) 820-6500; Website: www.mcall.com
Crossville Chronicle: , Phone: 931 484 5145, Fax: 931 456 7683
News – Sun: (Newport, Pennsylvania)
Perry County Times: PERRY COUNTY TIMES, 51 CHURCH ST, NEW BLOOMFIELD, PA 17068, (717)582-4305 (New Bloomfield) Pennsylvania
Catawba College, Salisbury, NC
Church Women United, 475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500, New York, NY 10115