Graveside services for Melba Jean Arie McDowell, 88, of Ruston, LA, will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2026, at 2:00 PM, at Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Choudrant, LA. A visitation will be held prior to the service on June 20, 2026, at Kilpatrick Funeral Home Chapel in Ruston from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.
Melba was a very loving person to her family and friends and the Ruston Community. She worked for many years in food service industry till her retirement in 2015.
She loved the Lord, and served at Bible Baptist Church, then at Central Baptist Church, and then at Alpine Nursing and Rehab Center Church Services. She was truly a blessing to everyone she met and will be missed deeply by her family and friends.
Melba is preceded in death by her parents Henry G. And Ruby Lee Arie; husband, Thomas Ray McDowell; daughter, Marsha Kay McDowell; son, Richard Glenn McDowell; grandson, Mathew Aaron McDowell; great grandson, Gabriel McDowell; and brother, Bobby Wayne Brewer.
Left to cherish her memory are her children; Gordan Ray McDowell, Kathy Morrow, Nancy Keen and husband Lane; sister, Ann Phillips and husband Marty.
