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Obituary for Madge Lorene Wylie
Madge Lorene Cook was born April 18, 1926 in Almeria, Nebraska to Burt S. Cook and Ada Klefman Cook. She lived in Nebraska, Montana and Meridian, Idaho before she moved with her family to the Glendale community south of Melba where she grew up. Madge graduated from Glendale Grade School in1940 and Melba High School in 1944. The war was on and she immediately went to work at Gowen Field in Boise. It was there she met Clark Wylie. They were married on December 26, 1945 and rode the bus to his hometown of Weirton, West Virginia where he returned to his job in the Weirton Steel Mill. Larry David was born on July 10, 1947 in Steubenville, Ohio. In 1948 they moved to Melba where they lived on the Frank Johnston farm where Beverly Rae was born on October 31, 1949. They moved uptown Melba where Clark ran a service station for several months and then he took the test for postmaster. Clark went to work for the U.S. Postal Service as postmaster in 1952, carried the mail for nine years and retired in 1979. They bought the property on Carrie Rex in 1952, where they lived the rest of their lives. Born to them at that address were Roger, Warren, Wendy, Mary Ann and Jerry. Clark passed away on January 6, 2007. Madge wrote news for various newspapers all her life. She worked for Consumer’s Grocery for five years, drove a school bus for four years and her favorite job was being secretary for the Melba Grade School for 13 years and during that time took tickets at all high school sporting events for 10 years. She belonged to the American Legion Auxiliary, the DAVE, the Melba Baptist Church, the Melba Valley Senior Center and the Melba Valley Historical Society. In about 1952 an ex-schoolteacher, who wrote occasional news for the Idaho Free Press, asked Madge if she would be interested in writing Melba’s news. That started a career of gathering local stories of the going on in Melba. Her favorite pastime was writing local stories about the people of Melba.
This is Madge's story in her own words:
In 1957 Clyde Cornell from Kuna came to my door and asked if I would be interested ingoing to work for the new Kuna Herald. He had just purchased it and would call one half of it The Kuna Herald and, by re-folding it, would call the other half The Melba Herald. It sounded pretty e exciting to me It would be my job to fill the Melba page. That was quite a space, so it required lots of phone calls. I had a list of 19 numbers I called every Monday morning. They would be church missionary societies, clubs, fraternal organizations and others, such as the Grange and Royal Neighbors, etc. At that time we had party lines in Melba. So, I was on a line with Mrs. Kimery who lived just across the alley. I had asked for a private line because of my news connection, but they said “no”. Finally, after I had “hogged’ the line so much, Mrs. Kimery called the phone company and asked if they would get me off her line. They called and asked if I would accept my own line. That worked very well for all of us. Writing Melba news has been my life’s work for 60 years. Before going to work for the Kuna Melba Herald I had written for the Idaho Free Press office. I wrote Melba news for them for several years. I also wrote news for the Idaho Daily Statesman for a few years. I would attend a function and then type the news on newsprint half-sheets of paper. I would then drive to Boise to the Statesman office or Nampa to the Free Press office and deliver it in person. Those were the days before I even dreamed of sending it on a wire. I got 10 cents an inch from the Free Press and Statesman. That ended up bringing in around five bucks a month. When Earl and Suzi Maggard bought the Kuna Melba paper, they informed me they were not prepared to pay; but I liked doing the job, so I never expected any pay after that. I was just doing it for fun anyway. Through that I made lots of contacts and in the end, I turned out to be the source of everything going on in Melba. Although I have not actually written news for a while, people still often call me to see what is going on. Searching for news all the time led me to creating a column I called “Of This ‘N’ That”. When you are reporting news, you are obliged to tell the story you have been given with no commentaries on the subject. The column gave me leeway to say what I wanted on the subject.
Madge died on November 18, 2020 after a short illness at home surrounded by family. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; one son; a sister; one brother; a sister-in-law; and a son-in-law. She is survived by her six children; and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren; and numerous extended family members. A graveside service will be held at 11:00 AM, Monday, November 23, at the Melba Cemetery, 7205 Baseline Road in Melba. The family hopes that next spring they will be allowed to have a proper gathering so that all can celebrate and honor the life and contributions that Madge made to her family and the community.
In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Madge's name to the Melba Community Auction, O/C Edith Pease, 2363 Southside Blvd, Melba, ID 83641; or The Melba Valley Museum, PO Box 131, Melba, ID 83641
