The Reverend Glenda Melson, 79, (Missouri Presbytery) died February 14, 2020, at her home in Swansea, South Carolina, after a struggle with Parkinson’s and Lewy Body Dementia.

Glenda was born to Paul Lee Cook and Mabel Ophus McNutt Cook on May 19, 1940, near Murray in Callaway County, Kentucky. She attended Powell High School in Powell, Tennessee, and graduated in 1958. She then attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Glenda married James Franklin Melson on June 29, 1958. Together, they have four children, James Earl, Vickie Sue, Karen Denise, and Tammy Elizabeth. James died June 2, 1978.

After the death of her husband, Glenda came under the care of West Tennessee Presbytery and was ordained October 9, 1994. She attended Memphis Theological Seminary and earned a Master’s of Divinity degree. In the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Glenda’s entire ministry was in West Tennessee and Missouri Presbyteries.

As a student, Glenda served Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Ripley, Mississippi, and Ramer Cumberland Presbyterian Church (West Tennessee Presbytery), Ramer, Tennessee. Her pastorates included Greenfield and Phillipsburg Cumberland Presbyterian Churches in Missouri Presbytery, First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lebanon, Missouri, as interim pastor, New Hope Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Salem (Missouri Presbytery), and Elkand Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Elkland, Missouri.

Glenda also served as a chaplain for Kennington Pointe Retirement Home in Memphis, Tennessee, and for St. John’s Breech Hospital in Lebanon, Missouri. From 1987 to 1989, she worked as circulation secretary for the Cumberland Presbyterian Magazine.