Melba Marie Burnett Housley's Obituary
Melba Marie Burnett Housley entered this life into the loving arms of her parents, Melba Brewer Burnett and Kenneth William Burnett on March 9, 1926, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In Pocatello, Idaho on November 18, 2022, she peacefully left this life back into the arms of her loving parents and the eternal embrace of "the love of her life", Leland (Lee) Jay Housley.
She enjoyed her childhood living at 10th East and Logan in Salt Lake City, Utah with her 5 siblings: LaRue Wilde (deceased), Marjorie Hess Jones (deceased), Kenneth Leon Burnett, Louise Greco and Byron Burnett (deceased).
She graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah, and soon after served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Central States Mission. With her sweetheart, she served three additional missions in Ghana, Africa (1984), Nigeria, Africa (1989) and again in Ghana, Africa (1998).
One of the highlights of her life was being crowned 2nd attendant to the queen in the Days of ‘47 Royalty in 1947, the centennial year of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley. During her reign, she caught the eye of her soon to be eternal companion, Leland Jay Housley. Marie and Leland were married and sealed in the Salt Lake City Temple on March 25, 1948.
During their 66 years of marriage they lived in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Dallas, Texas. Marie served in various callings in the church and as an ordinance worker in the Dallas Texas Temple. Marie had a beautiful talent for creating needlepoint artwork. She needlepointed over 145 Christmas stockings for her family, a labor of love which her posterity will cherish for years to come.
Marie and Lee were parents to 5 children: Leland "Jay" II (Lana), Deborah Reading (Chris), Marsha Marie Curry, Shauna Maye Taylor (Randy-deceased), Todd Burnett (Karen), Suzanne Housley (daughter in law), and were blessed with 25 grandchildren, 60 great grandchildren and 4 great-great grandchildren, all of which she repeatedly referred to as "jewels" in her life. She believed she lived a "fairy tale life" and her family could not agree more!
A viewing and memorial service will be held on November 26, 2022, at Wilks Funeral Home at 1:00 pm. A graveside service and interment will be at the Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, December 2, 2022, at 2 p.m.
The family would like to thank Marie's daughter, Marsha, for the years of loving care and endless service in her final years of life.
Funeral arrangements for Marie Burnett Housley have been faithfully entrusted to Restland Funeral Home and Cemetery, which is located at 13005 Greenville Ave., at the intersection of Restland Road, Dallas, Texas 75243, and can be reached at (972) 238-7111.
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