August 1, 2002 – Funeral services for Ariel Melchior Sr. will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3, at St. Andrew's Church in Estate Thomas.
Viewing will be at Davis Funeral Home from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday and from 7 to 9 a.m. Saturday. Cremation will follow with a private interment ceremony at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the University of the Virgin Islands for the Ariel Melchior Sr. Recent History Center.
Co-founder of The Daily News of the Virgin Islands, Melchior died July 23 at Roy L. Schneider Hospital following a lengthy illness. He was 93. Melchior started the newspaper with the late J. Antonio Jarvis on Aug. 1, 1930, and retired in 1978 when he sold it to the Gannett Co.
He is survived by two sons, Earl and Ariel Jr.; six daughters, Marjorie Preston, Valerie Wade, Rita Watley, Norma Gomez, Laurel Melchior and Jewel Love; stepchildren, George Dudley Jr. and Rita Grant; a sister, Zelina Petersen, daughters-in-law, Elinor Melchior and Vera Melchior; sons-in-law, Alvin Gomez Sr., Ronald Love and Lincoln Watley; and many nieces, nephews, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
