Theresa Melka

Theresa Ann Melka, age 73, of Atwater, died Tuesday, April 14, at Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 A.M. Monday, April 20, at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kandiyohi. Interment will be in St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Atwater. Visitation will be 5:00 - 7:30 P.M. Sunday with a 7:30 P.M. Parish Prayer Service at the Atwater Funeral Home and will continue one hour prior the service at the church. Memorials are preferred to the Atwater Block Nurse Program.

Theresa was born August 5, 1935, on the family farm north of Atwater, Minnesota, the daughter of James and Myrtle (Monson) Dowdell. She grew up in the rural Atwater community, attended rural Atwater schools and graduated from Atwater High School in 1953. She attended the College of St. Catherine, graduating in 1957. She worked overseas in Korea and Germany in civil service for the U.S. Army.

On June 13, 1964, she married Robert L. Melka at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kandiyohi. They lived in St. Paul, where Theresa taught school. They later lived in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and Holland, Michigan. Theresa later moved to Black River Falls, Wisconsin, where she worked as a children's librarian. In 1989, she retired and returned to Atwater.