Melanie A. Walling, 64, started catering buisness
February 22, 2019
Melanie Ann Walling of Pawleys Island, a nurse who started a catering business, died Feb. 14 after an extended illness. She was 64.
She was born Dec. 29, 1954, in Mobile, Ala., the daughter of Vadie and Minnie Leona Vickers. She graduated from Chickasaw Academy and the Mastin School of Nursing. She worked as a labor and delivery nurse in Mobile, Atlanta and Georgetown.
She married James Walling, the director of the cardiopulmonary department at Georgetown Memorial Hospital, in 1991.
“She decided she wanted to pursue her hobby, which was cooking,” her husband said. Mrs. Walling started Southern Temptations.
She began by distributing menus to real estate rental companies and getting orders from vacationers. The business grew to include weddings, parties and events. “It was a lot of work, but she loved it,” her husband said.
She was also an enthusiastic spectator of the Pawleys Island Fourth of July parade, and was responsible for several award-winning house decorations on the south end. Her friends and family will remember her best for her love of Alabama football, Rolling Stones music and pink flamingos.
In addition to her husband, she is survived by her daughter, Mary-Michael Hapner (Sterling) of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; her grandchildren, Kellam Hill Hapner and Vadie McVay Hapner; and her brother, Vadie Vickers (Margaret) of Mobile.
A celebration of her life will be held this spring.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the American Liver Foundation at liverfoundation.org.
