- Date Of Birth: June 25, 1937
- Date Of Death: October 6, 2020
- State: Illinois
Melva (Croisant) Richards, 83, of Peru, passed away, Tuesday, October 6, 2020 at OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
Mrs. Richards was born on June 25, 1937 in Spring Valley to Melvin and Hazel (Weisenburger) Croisant. She married John G. Richards on August 7, 1960 at First Congregational Church in Peru.
She graduated from LaSalle-Peru High School in 1955, L-P-O College in 1957 and Northwestern University in 1959 where she was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority.
She received her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin in 1965.Melva taught English at Richwoods High School in Peoria and in Madison, WI.
She was a librarian at the Cooperative Children’s Book Center in Madison and at LaSalle-Peru High School. She was a Collection Development and Reference Librarian at Illinois Valley Community College for 30 years until 1999. She continued to teach part time after retiring. She loved traveling, reading and learning new things.
She was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma (woman’s educators), past president of Zonta International, member of Illinois Valley Book Review and Grace United Methodist Church, LaSalle.
She is survived by her husband, John of Peru; two daughters, Kris (John) Widmann of Grantham, NH and Andi (Jim) Heidenreich of Omaha, NE; five grandsons, Nick and Ben Widmann and Alex, Luke and Zach Heidenreich. She was preceded in death by her parents and an infant son.
