Melba Angeline DeLeGal-Joswiak

Melba Angeline DeLeGal-Joswiak, of Forsyth, Georgia, and St. Joe Beach, Florida, died Friday, December 13, 2019. Funeral services will be at 3 PM, Wednesday, December 18, 2019, at First Baptist Church, with private burial in Forsyth City Cemetery. The Rev. Glenn Gregg will officiate. Visitation will precede the service from 1:30 PM until 3:00 at the church.

A memorial service in Mexico Beach, Florida, will be held at a later date yet to be announced.

She was born to the late Philip and Angeline Ash DeLeGal in Waycross, Georgia, January 31, 1949. She grew up in Forsyth, Georgia, and attended Mary Persons High School (class of 1967), Tift College (1972) and Mercer University. She taught mathematics at Mary Persons and at Jackson High Schools, as well as Gordon College. She had been a long-time member of First Baptist Church of Forsyth. She was also pianist for Mexico Beach United Methodist Church until Hurricane Michael devastated the area.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Wayne Joswiak, her Captain, John Breen, and her sons, Philip and Karl Peters.

She is survived by her children, Angeline Ard (Codie Patterson), and Andrew Ard (Dana); by grandchildren, Sebastian, Angeline, and Philip Ard, Karly Patterson, and Eli Breen; by her brother, Herbert DeLeGal (Michael Wayman);  by step-children, John Breen, Jr. (Amy), Tommy Breen; by her adopted son, Mulugeta Aksma, as well as by her DeLeGal cousins, her E’Dalgo cousins, including Nan Watkins, her Peters in-laws, and friends Pamela Terry, Marie Urquhart, and Barbara Sullivan, and her “other son,” Sean Sullivan (Alicia Díaz).

Memorial gifts may be made in her name to the Mexico Beach Artificial Reef Association (MBARA P.O. Box 13006, Mexico Beach Florida, 32410, or at www.MBARA.org.) or to the charity of the donor’s choice.

Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of arrangements.