Melvin Donald Gifford

Melvin Donald Gifford of Geronimo, passed away peacefully in his sleep Jan. 1, 2023, at his home in Harlingen, Texas at the age of 94.

Melvin was born on Feb. 18, 1928, in Faxon, to Marion (Skeet) Francis Gifford and Leta Carter Gifford. He attended school in Faxon. After graduating he joined the Navy on Feb. 15, 1946 and received an honorable discharge on Dec. 12, 1947. He attended Cameron University and earned 25 semester hours in the Fall of 1948 and the Spring of 1949. On Aug. 6, 1949, he married the love of his life, Lynval McCuiston and they raised their family beginning in Lawton; they later settled two miles west of Geronimo.

His lifelong career was with the Civil Service at Fort Sill. He started as a bus driver and retired as the General Foreman of the Transportation Motor Pool in April 1988. From August 1988 to May 1992, he worked for Northrop Worldwide Aircraft Services, Inc. at Ft. Sill as the General Foreman, Transportation.

Melvin is survived by his wife of over 73 years, Lynval Gifford; daughter, Melda Magill of Kerrville, TX; daughter, Tresa Jackson (Jim) of Harlingen, TX, and son, Donald Gifford (Katherine) of Geronimo; sisters: Velda Chadwick (John) of Las Vegas, NV and Mary Frances Lezak of Cedar Park, TX.

He is preceded in death by his parents: Marion and Leta Gifford; daughter, Vicki Rena Gifford (2/5-2/6/1953); sister, Mattie Garrison; brothers: Eudell Gifford and Alva Gifford.

He was a proud grandfather to Mitchell Box, Athena Peters, Jamison Gifford, Jacob Peters, Matthew Gifford, Stacy Reyna, Alicia Hainline, Meagan Magill, Penny Price, and William Magill. He had ten great-grandchildren with number eleven due in March. He also lives on in the memories of numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

His joy in life was providing for and loving his family. He and his wife Lyn spent leisure time bowling and playing cards. After retirement they enjoyed traveling to casinos and bluegrass festivals. He was known to always have a camera or camcorder handy to record family events, bluegrass festivals or anything that caught his eye. He left photo albums dating back to the early 1950’s up to the end of 2022, full of family photos. He viewed most of the events behind the camera, so you won’t find him in much of the footage. He was a lifetime collector of coins, stamps, postcards, tokens, lottery tickets, casino membership cards and other miscellaneous items. As he got older and back problems prevented him from getting out, he always found things to keep him busy like his collections, crosswords, jigsaw puzzles and games. He never missed his favorite show — Wheel of Fortune! He was always ready to challenge you to a game of UpWords or Skip-Bo and being very competitive won more often than not... thus earning him the nickname, “Lucky Mel”. (As a matter of fact, he was still winning just a couple of weeks ago!)

Melvin’s remains will be cremated. Graveside services are pending in Faxon. If you wish to attend the services please e-mail his daughter, Tresa tresagj@gmail.com and she will be sure you are notified.