Melba Hoium

Funeral services for Melba Hoium, of Anaheim Hills, California, formerly of Starbuck, Minnesota, will be held on Thursday, March 17, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. at the Minnewaska Lutheran Church in Starbuck with a visitation beginning one hour prior to the service at the church.  Reverend Dr. Joel Rolff will be officiating and burial will be at the Minnewaska Lutheran Cemetery in Starbuck.

Melba Dean Blann was born on October 21, 1936, to John Braxton and Ruby (Thompson) Blann in Bentley, Oklahoma.  Melba was raised in Atoka, Oklahoma, where she attended school, graduating from Atoka High School.  After high school, she moved to Oklahoma City for work.  While she and her girlfriend were moving apartments, they recruited some neighborhood men to help them; amongst them was a handsome young man named Norman Hoium.  The two began dating and on June 4, 1955, they were married.  They eventually made their home in Starbuck, Minnesota, and Melba worked in Morris, Minnesota.  Their marriage was blessed with one daughter, Deborah.  After Norman’s death, Melba moved out to Anaheim Hills, California to be closer to Deborah where she lived until her death.

Melba was a long-time parishioner of Minnewaska Lutheran Church in Starbuck.  She liked to watch NFL sports, especially the Minnesota Vikings, reading and watching the news, shopping, and most importantly, she cherished the time that she was able to spend with her daughter and grandchildren.

Melba died on Thursday, February 17, 2022, at the South Coast Post Acute Center in Santa Anna, California; she was 85 years old.

Melba is survived by her daughter, Deborah Andersen of Anaheim Hills, CA; 2 grandchildren: Megan and Matthew; 3 great-grandchildren: Marissa, Alabama, and Charlotte; and two sisters: Flo Smith of McAlester, OK, and Marge Eldridge of Atoka, OK.  She is preceded in death by her husband, Norman; parents: Ruby and John Blann; sister: Gwen Jiles; mother-in-law and father-in-law: Mabel and George Wesen, brothers-in-law: Gerald Wesen and Donald Wesen; and sister-in-law, Dorothy Wesen.

Starbuck Funeral Home in Starbuck, Minnesota is in care of arrangements for Melba.