Mellon Burchette Walls passed on to Heaven, February 2, 2011. Mrs. Walls was blessed to live to be 100 years old, born on September 20, 1910 in Elkin, North Carolina. She spent most of her life in the Elkin and Ronda areas of North Carolina. She worked 47 years for Chatham Manufacturing Company and became an expert seamstress. She would work long days and then came home to sew for her family. She became well known for her draperies she would make and was asked to adorn many homes in Elkin. One of her greatest gifts was the wedding dress that she designed and hand sewed for her granddaughter, Melanie Swaim Barbee. Mellon was full of life and never met a stranger. She considered practically everyone in Elkin her good friend and loved stopping by to visit and talk. Leaving those many, many friends was a hard choice, but after retirement, she and her husband Dewey built a home in Winston-Salem to be near their only daughter, Catherine Walls Swaim. There Mrs. Walls lived until 2003, when she moved into the Yadkin Nursing Center in Yadkinville, NC. She brightened the days of many nurses and staff with her feisty personality. Mellon loved being busy all her life. Not until her very last year or so did she finally slow down to rest. Her husband, Richard Dewey Walls and her daughter, Catherine Walls Swaim, preceded her in death. Surviving are her son-in-law, Don O'Neil Swaim of Winston-Salem, her beloved granddaughter, Melanie Swaim Barbee and husband Todd Barbee of Lewisville and her great-granddaughter, Madeleine Rose Barbee, whom she just adored and loved to play with. Mrs. Walls' funeral service will be held at Saturday, February 5, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. at Elkin Funeral Service Chapel in Elkin, NC. The service will be conducted by Dr. Bill Johnson of First Baptist Church in Elkin. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Yadkin Nursing Care Center attn: Wanda Cockerham, 903 West Main Street, Yadkinville, NC 27055. Melanie would like to thank all the nurses and staff at Yadkin Nursing Center for the love and care they generously gave to her grandmother.
