Melanie Andrews Perez, 36, of Sallisaw entered into rest Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014. She was born Oct. 29, 1977, in Fort Smith to Rick and Patti Andrews. Melanie was a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and attended Heritage United Methodist Church in Van Buren. She later became the Spanish teacher at Muldrow High School, where she loved teaching and interacting with the students in her classes. She enjoyed talking about her teaching and how much it meant to her, which was evident with the big smile on her face. In the midst of life, while raising her family and teaching, she still managed to fight a courageous battle with cancer for the last 10 months, but could no longer sustain the fight. She was surrounded by family when God called her home Saturday.
She was preceded in death by her maternal grandmother, Louise Marrs; and paternal grandparents, Mae and G.A. McKee and W.J. Andrews Jr.
She is survived by her husband, Elmer; her sons, Khelson Partain, Jerick Andrews Perez, Kaden Perez and Jaxon Perez; her parents, Rick and Patti Andrews of Muldrow; a sister, Hillary Taylor and husband Jarrod of Muldrow; a brother, B.J. Andrews and wife Stephanie (her other “sister”) of Muldrow; nieces, Krislyn and Finley Grace Andrews (“her girls”); a nephew, Ethan Taylor; uncle Michael Marrs and wife Keitha of Temple, Texas; uncles, Gary Andrews and wife Brenda of Muldrow and Stephen and wife Karen of Muldrow; and aunt Ann Karr and husband Jerry of Fort Smith, aunt Leah Schaefer and aunt Aline and Jim Davis of Fort Smith, Granny Nell Andrews of Houston; and many more cousins and friends.
MULDROW (KFSM) — Students at Muldrow High School returned to class Monday (Oct. 27) to learn a popular teacher died Saturday.
Melanie Andrews Perez started teaching at Muldrow High School December 2012.
“Yes we did Spanish, and yes we followed the lesson plans, but we learned life lessons, too. You’re not promised a day. So every day we did something in that class that was another life lesson,” said junior Mollie Hearn.
She discovered she had stomach cancer right after she gave birth to her fourth son.
“A 10-month-old will never know his mother, except what people will tell him,” Doris Coker said.
Coker was Perez’s 5th grade teacher, right down the road at Muldrow Middle School.
“If they needed her, she was here, no matter how she felt,” Coker said.
“She would go get chemo and the next day she would be at school teaching kids for eight hours a day,” Hearn said.
No one knew it at the time, but Sept. 12 was her last day of work. Hearn helped organize lesson plans while she was in the hospital.
“One of my favorite quotes is ‘Live a life that shines.’ And, she did that,” Hearn said. “She was encouraging. That was the biggest thing. No matter how bad her situation was, she still let her light shine. And I think that’s huge.”
The 36-year-old Perez was universally respected.
“High school kids – [there are] not many of us that they really even like. They tolerate us. But they loved her,” Coker said
