Melody Dawn Mayfield

After an evening of singing, stories, and prayers, surrounded by loved ones, Melody Dawn Mayfield slipped away in the early hours of Friday, August 15, 2025. A lover of music, gardening, and a good visit, she is survived by her son, Jon Marshall Mayfield, grandson, Leo Henry Mayfield, daughter in law, Angela Christine Best, and sisters, Alana Louise McCafferty, Heidi Ann Shaw, and Melinda Jayne Nava, along with countless friends and extended family members.

Melody was born September 27, 1947. She grew up in Bell, California with her sisters and hard-working parents, Albert and Betty Ann Glimsdahl. All were devout Christians, active in their church, Grace Lutheran, and the rhythms of the church informed the rhythms of their life. Melody and her sisters sang in the church and were such a sensation that their mother pressed a record of their singing under the label Dahl Records. Ever a precocious child, Melody skipped a grade and graduated high school with her older sister, Alana, at the age of 16. They spent the next two years together in Washington at Lutheran Bible Institute (LBI), and then Melody went on to earn her bachelor's degree from Cal State Los Angeles.

While visiting her mother in the hospital, she was introduced to Craig Alison Mayfield, the son of her mother's roommate. They were married September 19, 1970 and moved north to the Bay Area to be closer to Moffett Field, where Craig was stationed with the Navy. After thirteen years and a variety of jobs - from home piano teacher, to bank teller, to classroom teacher - they welcomed Jon into the family on September 26, 1983 - an early birthday present to Melody.

Melody's fondest ambition was being a home maker, and staying home to care for Jon brought that dream to life. She was a caring, attentive, and creative mom, making dollars and imaginations stretch with home-made costumes, toys, and activities. When Jon began school, Melody returned to the classroom part-time as a substitute teacher, but returned to home making as symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis started to affect her energy. Fond of saying her middle initial actually stood for Determined, Melody fought tooth and nail against the advance of MS, working with physical therapists, reading up on every possible new cure, trying new treatments, adjusting her diet dutifully, and holding on to as much of her life (and responsibilities) as a home maker as she could. Despite her illness, she always encouraged Jon to live his life to the fullest, first in going away to college, then studying abroad, and eventually settling in the midwest. As MS advanced and her abilities wavered, she found friendly hands to help with what she could no longer do alone. More than ever, community bloomed around Melody, enlisting friends from church, neighbors, and their children in her continued quest to make her house a home. Her garden and relationships grew in beauty.

When Craig passed in 2020, and she could no longer live on her own, she gave the money from the sale of her home to Jon and Angie to buy a home of their own. They paid that gift forward and found a place where they could all live together. She spent her final years sharing a home with Jon, Angie, and her grandson, Leo, who was born two months after she moved in. Melody seeped into every room and daily ritual of the home they shared. Today it's a bitter reminder of what has been lost, but we trust time will temper it into the sweetness of a home alive with her memory.

Services will be held at 11am on Saturday, September 13 at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Livermore, CA. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.