Karen Ann (Melby) LaVelle, the oldest of Tip and Ruth Melby’s five children, was born April 25, 1939, in Lyman, Wyoming. She spent her first years on a sheep ranch before the family moved to Missoula, Montana, in 1947. She earned her nursing degree at Montana State and married Tom LaVelle in 1960; they raised five children. A registered nurse, she also taught dance at the Butte Ballet Academy and built a doll-pattern business she called Rose County. She died on October 25, 2025.
Stories, letters, and photographs
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Accounts of the Melby Family through the Lens of Pat Melby – the “Middle Child”
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Accounts of the Melby Family through the Lens of Diane Hamilton – the Oldest Grandchild
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Obituary of Karen Ann LaVelle (Melby) – October 25, 2025
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“Hot Cousins!”
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Ruth Melby (Tip’s Wife) – Memories from Jean Melby-Mauer
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Ruth Melby (Tip’s Wife) – Memories from Karen and Bill
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Tip’s 80th Birthday with Family and Helen
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