Melma Rubel

Melma C. Rubel, age 97, of Battle Creek, passed away on Friday, October 19, 2018.  She was born on April 11, 1921 in Lansing, Michigan, the daughter of Clifford and Irene (Turner) Harvey.  She graduated in 1939 from Olivet High School and lived during her married and widowed life in the Battle Creek area but lived for eight years with her husband on a four-hundred acre farm in Climax, Michigan.  Melma was a house wife, a Shopper Shows demonstrator with her mother for a few years, worked at W.T. Grant for three years, and then the Federal Center DLC for eighteen years, retiring in 1985.   Melma was a member of the Wm. Forward Relief Core, and enjoyed machine knitting, crocheting, making quilts and afghans, dolls, and flower and vegetable gardening.   She was a 4-H leader in cooking one year.  She was a care giver for her mother, Irene, for several years.  She was preceded in death by her first husband Robert J. Pratley on May 14, 1973 and her second husband John A. Rubel on October 4, 2000.  She celebrated twenty fifth anniversaries with both Robert and John.  Also preceding her in death are her parents, Clifford and Irene; brother, Cleo “Joe” Harvey; and sister, Mildred Granger.  Surviving are her children Harry D. (Sharon) Pratley of Battle Creek, Ellen I. (Don) Pierce of Battle Creek, Carol A. (Doug) Smith of Port Huron as well as five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.  Friends may call from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 24, 2018 at the Richard A. Henry Funeral Home, 703 Capital Ave. S.W., where funeral services will follow at 11:00 a.m.  Interment will take place at Floral Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the American Macular Degeneration Foundation.  Condolences may be left for the family at www.henryfuneralhome.org