Melva Eileen Platt (Milroy)
March 28, 1927 — September 22, 2007
Melva E. Platt, 80, of Manchester, died Saturday, September 22, 2007 at the Regional Medical Center in Manchester.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2007 at the Bohnenkamp-Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Manchester. Family will greet friends from 4-8 p.m. on Wednesday and one hour before services Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Oakland Cemetery, Manchester.
Melva was born March 28, 1927 on a farm three miles east of Delhi, the daughter of Clarence and Mary (Nieman) Milroy. After graduating from Delhi High School, she worked as a secretary in Manchester. On November 17, 1944, Melva was united in marriage to Bruce Wendell Platt, Sr., son of Art & Fern Platt of Manchester. Bruce was serving as Navy Signalman in WWII.
On December 18, 1949, Melva, Bruce and two others survived an auto accident which left Melva, 22, a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. She had three children, ages 3, 2 and 3 months.
Melva entered the University of Southern Illinois in Carbondale, determined to become a teacher. Her academic excellence earned her an invitation to join Alpha Upsilon, a chapter of Phi Lambda Theta, the oldest School of Education Honor Society. She soon realized her interest and talent lay in the field of counseling, and in 1965 she graduated from SUI with a BS Degree in Audiology and Pathology. In 1967, she received her MS Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
In July, 1967, seventeen ½ years after her struggle with disability began, her dreams of independence were realized when she was employed as a Psychologist at the Jacksonville State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois. Unfortunately, for health reasons, she was forced to leave her position in May, 1983. In an attempt to continue to live independently, she moved back to Iowa in November, 1986.
In 1969, Melva was selected as the Iowa Rehabilitant of the Year. She was one of 32 chosen in a national program to celebrate the fact that for the first time, 200,000 persons with disabilities were rehabilitated throughout the country in one year. She was nominated as the Handicapped Professional woman of the Year for 1980-1981 by the Pilot Club of Jacksonville, where she lived and worked.
Melva is survived by three children, Bruce Platt, Jr. of Peoria, IL, Cindy (Don) Schmitt of Overland Park, KS and Deb (Daryll) Stenberg of Howard Lake, MN; six grandchildren; and four sisters, Maxine (Al) McClain of Bella Vista, AK, Marita (Dick) Daniels of Morristown, NJ, Marlene “Marty” (Dr. Wilfred Sawyier) of Albequerque, NM and Mary Lou (Denny) Hunter of Federal Way, WA.
Melva was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence & Mary Milroy; her husband, Bruce Platt, Sr.; and a sister, Marjorie Wendt.
Please sign our online guestbook for Melva at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 27, 2007 at the Bohnenkamp-Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Manchester. Family will greet friends from 4-8 p.m. on Wednesday and one hour before services Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Oakland Cemetery, Manchester.
Melva was born March 28, 1927 on a farm three miles east of Delhi, the daughter of Clarence and Mary (Nieman) Milroy. After graduating from Delhi High School, she worked as a secretary in Manchester. On November 17, 1944, Melva was united in marriage to Bruce Wendell Platt, Sr., son of Art & Fern Platt of Manchester. Bruce was serving as Navy Signalman in WWII.
On December 18, 1949, Melva, Bruce and two others survived an auto accident which left Melva, 22, a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair. She had three children, ages 3, 2 and 3 months.
Melva entered the University of Southern Illinois in Carbondale, determined to become a teacher. Her academic excellence earned her an invitation to join Alpha Upsilon, a chapter of Phi Lambda Theta, the oldest School of Education Honor Society. She soon realized her interest and talent lay in the field of counseling, and in 1965 she graduated from SUI with a BS Degree in Audiology and Pathology. In 1967, she received her MS Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.
In July, 1967, seventeen ½ years after her struggle with disability began, her dreams of independence were realized when she was employed as a Psychologist at the Jacksonville State Hospital in Jacksonville, Illinois. Unfortunately, for health reasons, she was forced to leave her position in May, 1983. In an attempt to continue to live independently, she moved back to Iowa in November, 1986.
In 1969, Melva was selected as the Iowa Rehabilitant of the Year. She was one of 32 chosen in a national program to celebrate the fact that for the first time, 200,000 persons with disabilities were rehabilitated throughout the country in one year. She was nominated as the Handicapped Professional woman of the Year for 1980-1981 by the Pilot Club of Jacksonville, where she lived and worked.
Melva is survived by three children, Bruce Platt, Jr. of Peoria, IL, Cindy (Don) Schmitt of Overland Park, KS and Deb (Daryll) Stenberg of Howard Lake, MN; six grandchildren; and four sisters, Maxine (Al) McClain of Bella Vista, AK, Marita (Dick) Daniels of Morristown, NJ, Marlene “Marty” (Dr. Wilfred Sawyier) of Albequerque, NM and Mary Lou (Denny) Hunter of Federal Way, WA.
Melva was preceded in death by her parents, Clarence & Mary Milroy; her husband, Bruce Platt, Sr.; and a sister, Marjorie Wendt.
Please sign our online guestbook for Melva at www.murdochfuneralhome.com under obituaries.
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