MELODY J. PFILE

Wasilla resident Mrs. Melody Jean Pfile, 43, died at her home of cervical cancer on March 20, 2004.

A visitation was held at Valley Funeral Home Chapel on Wednesday from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Funeral services were held Thursday at 10 a.m. at Lamb of God Lutheran Church, 1220 Church Road in Wasilla. Pastor Norm Wagner officiated. Burial followed at Wasilla Aurora Cemetery.

Mrs. Pfile was born Feb. 19, 1961, in Jacksonville, Ill.

She was a graduate of Elizabeth High School and attended Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill.

Mrs. Pfile moved to Alaska in 1996, living in Anchorage until 1997, then moving to Wasilla.

Mrs. Pfile had worked at the Elizabeth Caf/ and Jo Daviess Carroll Area Vocational Center Preschool in Elizabeth, Ill., Tom Thumb Montessori School in Anchorage, the Little Red School House in Eagle River and at Chugiak Children Services in Wasilla. She had been a Sunday school teacher at St. Paul Lutheran Church, LCMS in Elizabeth, and member of Lamb of God, LCMS Lutheran Church in Wasilla. Mrs. Pfile had been active in the Girl Scouts.

She loved spending time with her grandchildren.

Her family wrote, "Melody's love and kindheartedness touched and warmed the many lives of her family, friends and those who came to know her. She contributed her time to teaching young children, even those with special needs. Because children held such a special place in her heart, she felt so very blessed when her three grandchildren were born. Through the worship at the Lutheran Church, she showed her love for God, and with the values of her life she showed her love for her family. She was a very loving and caring person, and we will be forever blessed to have had her in our hearts. Melody's strength and will to survive showed us what true courage really is, throughout her three-year battle with cancer."

Mrs. Pfile was preceded in death by her father Herbert O. Lindsay; grandparents Edward and Ruth Strubbe and Orris Lindsay and nephew Andrew Cullen.

She is survived by her husband Jeffrey Pfile of Wasilla; children Jeffrey D. Pfile of Anchorage, Jessica Pfile, Brandon Pfile and Megan Pfile, all of Wasilla; grandchildren Jaden James Pfile of Anchorage, Bradley Von McNamee and Victoria Reign McNamee of Wasilla; family friend William McNamee; mother Delores Lindsay of Dubuque, Iowa; brother and sister-in-law Herbert and Joan Lindsay of Dubuque, Iowa; sisters and brothers-in-law Pamela and Mark Van Camp of Kaukauna, Wisc., and Judith and Thomas Townsend of Scales Mound, Ill.; grandmother Elizabeth Lindsay of Indiana; and many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

Arrangements were made by Valley Funeral Home in Wasilla.