Melissa Payne Gum, 72, died on May 9, 2000, at a Beckley hospital following a long illness. Born on March 3, 1928, in
Kingston, she was the daughter of the late William Okey and Josie Humphrey Payne.
She was a graduate of Pax High School, Concord College, and received her master’s degree from Miami University in
Oxford, Ohio. She taught school in Raleigh County for seven years, five years in Warren County, Ohio, and for 20 years at
Mayfield School in Middletown, Ohio, before retiring in 1979. She was teacher of the year in 1974.
Following retirement Mrs. Gum moved to Oak Hill. She was a member of the Oak Hill United Methodist Church, the
Fayette County Historical Society, Fayette County Retired Teachers Associa- tion, and the White Oak Chapter of the
National Railway Historical Society. She volunteered as a guide at the Contentment Museum and helped prepare the
1993 book on Fayette County history.
Surivors include her husband, Charles Wallace Gum, whom she married on May 28, 1954; five brothers, William U.
Payne, of Miami, Florida, John A. Payne, of Sacramento, California, Waymon H. Payne, of Roanoke Rapids, North
Carolina, Franklin L. Payne, of Fayetteville, and Lowell E. Payne, of Sissonville; and one sister, Mary Jo Morris, of Rockbridge,
Ohio.
Services were held on May 11 at the Oak Hill United Methodist Church with the Rev. James Shepherd officiating. Burial
was in the High Lawn Memorial Park at Oak Hill.