Melba Fern Borger, age 88, passed away at the Cedar Village Care Center, Ness City on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. She was born at her grandparent's farm home south of Bazine, Kansas on March 23, 1927. She was the only child of Henry and Edna Bruner Borger.

In August of 1927 her parents purchased a farm southeast of Ness City where Melba grew up and lived most of her life. She attended the one-room rural school of Cleveland from first to eighth grade. She enjoyed school and often walked the one mile to and from school. She attended Ness City High school and graduated in 1945. In high school she acquired an interest in biology and the medical field which led her to Fort Hays State College from which she graduated in 1959 with a BA in Zoology and Chemistry.

After passing the national boards for clinical pathology Melba became a Medical Technologist and worked at the Trinity Lutheran Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1961 she was led to missions work and was called to Nome, Alaska to work at the Magnard-McDougal Memorial Hospital. It was a wonderful experience but at the end of 1962 she returned to the farm in Kansas. For the next 15 years or so Melba worked at the Ness County Hospital in Ness City, the Trinity Lutheran Hospital, a doctor's office, and the Gleason Hospital in Larned, Kansas.

After Melba's father passed away she moved back home to take care of her mother on the family farm. After Melba's mother passed away she remained in the family farm house until 2000 when she moved to a house in Ness City.
Melba was a member of the United Methodist Church, The Ness County Historical Society, the Ruth Circle, and the Fort Hays State Alumni Association. She was an active member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and held a state office. Melba enjoyed sewing, stitching, quilting, and scrap booking. She was very generous in donating to various charitable organizations.

Melba will be remembered fondly by her many friends.

Funeral Service will be on Friday, January 29, 2016, 10:30 at the United Methodist Church, Ness City with burial following in the Ness City Cemetery. Friends may call at Fitzgerald Funeral Home on Thursday, January 28, 2016 from 9:00 A.M. until 9:00 P.M.

Memorial contributions may be given to the United Methodist Church, Ness City Library, the Ness County Healthcare Foundation, or the Ness County Historical Society. Words of remembrance may be left at www.fitzgeraldfuneral.com.