The Reverend Samuel “Sam” David Melton, 84, (Tennessee-Georgia Presbytery) died Friday, February. 28, 2020.

He was born on May 25, 1935, to George and Dorothy Bennett Melton in Cleveland, Tennessee, the oldest of four children: Evelyn (Visage), Carolyn (Cassidy) and George Stephen Melton.

He graduated from Bradley Central High School and went on to attend Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee. It was at Carson-Newman where he met the love of his life, Wanda Caylor of Dalton, Georgia.

After graduation and marriage, Sam and Wanda headed to Fort Worth, Texas, where Sam graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained at the Ridgedale Baptist Church in Chattanooga. Together Sam and Wanda have served lives of ministry and service in the Southern Baptist and the Cumberland Presbyterian Churches.