Foundation to honor Ray, Melba Wyche
Service and education are core values that help define the lives of Ray and Melba Wyche, values that parallel the goals of the SCC Foundation.
For this reason, the Wyches have been chosen as honorary chairmen to be recognized at the 29th annual Foundation Dinner Theater.
The Wyches are from Hallsboro and have three children, Kay Wyche Mobley and Joseph P. Wyche of Raleigh, and Robert W. Wyche of Angier.
The dinner theater is planned for Saturday, April 8, in the Business and Industry Training Center, T-Building, on the SCC campus at 6 p.m.
Ray Byron Wyche, after a tour of duty in Germany with the U.S. Army in 1946-47, received a bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest College in 1950. He worked for the Wilmington Morning Star, but soon returned to his roots in Hallsboro, where he was postmaster for 30 years. He served as a trainer postmaster and on survey teams, examining their post offices.
He continued to write for the Wilmington paper for 25 years and since 1999 has been a contributing writer for The News Reporter, writing feature articles and interviewing World War II veterans.
A deacon with Hallsboro Baptist Church, Wyche served as church clerk for 40 years and has taught an adult Sunday School class since 1952.
“If you can’t learn about the Bible in Ray’s class, you just aren’t paying attention,” said Lake Waccamaw Mayor Ivan Wilson, SCC Foundation director and longtime member of the class. “He makes the Bible come to life with his sincerity and method of delivery.”
A former trustee for SCC, Wyche served on the college’s board from 1989 to 1997 and continues to serve on the SCC Foundation board of directors. In addition, he serves on other committees and councils, including the Senior Citizens Center, Lake Waccamaw State Park and the Columbus County Travel and Tourism Bureau.
He is a former Literacy Council tutor for adult students and served as a member of the Columbus Baptist Association executive committee.
Melba Pate Wyche grew up in Hallsboro, knowing her husband of 55 years since their childhoods. A graduate of the 1945 class of Hallsboro High School, Melba said, “Even though we were in a post-Depression era, half of our graduating class went to college, a statistic unheard of for that time.”
Melba’s education continued at Wake Forest College, where she graduated cum laude in 1949 with a bachelor’s degree. She later earned a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina.
Hannah Yates, Melba’s third-grade teacher at Hallsboro, is remembered for driving a model A Ford from her home in Chadbourn to Hallsboro each school day; she immediately recognized Melba’s knack for teaching.
She often called on Melba to teach the other students their multiplication tables. How right Miss Yates was. Melba taught English for 30 years, winning accolades as Teacher of the Year for Columbus County in 1979-80 and in the Whiteville City Schools in 1983-‘84.
A former student remembers how Mrs. Wyche made her lessons more memorable, for example, by wearing a T-shirt bearing a Shakespearean sonnet over her immaculately pressed blouse, and by “lying” on the classroom floor when explaining the difference between the verbs “lie” and “lay.”
In 1986, Melba was recipient of the Governor’s Business Committee District Award in English. She is a past president of the North Carolina English Teachers’ Association, and is past president of the local Alpha Delta Kappa honorary teachers’ sorority and of the Whiteville Garden Club.
She has served as a member of the North Carolina Baptist State Convention General Board and on the convention’s Council on Higher Learning.
She is a former deacon and is currently a Sunday School teacher at Hallsboro Baptist Church and has served on the board of the Lake Waccamaw Depot Museum. She has also served on the Poteat Scholarship Committee of Wake Forest University, and was a charter member of he Gov. James B. Hunt Young Citizens Award Committee at Wake Forest.
In 1997, the Wyches hosted a Thai student from SCC’s Youth for Understanding Program, Sompop Jitchboknimit, or “First” as he was called, wrote a note to the Wyches: “Thanks to the nicest host family. Thanks to Mrs. Melba for teaching me English and cooking good food. Thanks to Mr. Ray for making fire every night and to both for giving your warm hearts.”
The Wyches have supported a variety of organizations individually and have always combined their efforts when it comes to the SCC Foundation, their church and other charitable organizations.
Tickets for the 2006 Dinner Theater may be obtained by calling the Foundation office at 642-7141, ext. 320 or 260. Tickets are $40 per person, which includes the meal and jazz concert directed by Dr. John Entzi.
A tax deduction of $25 per ticket will be allowed as a charitable gift to the Foundation.