FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — Melva Lopez turned 100 recently, but she’s not done creating.
The self-taught artist has lived in Fayetteville for more than 70 years and produced more than 10,000 paintings along the way, granddaughter Amy Johnson said in a November interview.
The mother-of-five first came to Fayetteville in 1940, when her father got a job as a registrar at Fort Bragg, Melva said. She, her parents and her younger brother, Billy, lived in a house on Raleigh Road without indoor plumbing in those early days.
“We didn’t know anybody or anything,” she said, chuckling. “We enjoyed it there.”
Military ties
The family stayed in Fayetteville for two years before Melva’s father was transferred to Oklahoma, she said. After her father retired, Melva returned to Fayetteville, where she met her husband, Ramon “Fritoso” Lopez, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, at the Service Club on Fort Bragg.
Fritoso had just returned from Japan, where he was stationed for five years after World War II, his wife said. Melva came to the Service Club on Saturday nights to dance, something she loved to do, and the man who won her heart taught her how to do the jitterbug. The couple married in 1951, when Melva was 27, and only briefly left Fayetteville when Fritoso was stationed in Munich from 1956 to 1959.
“I love being here,” Melva said.
Their first daughter was 6 weeks old when Fritoso was sent to South Korea. She was 18 months old when her father returned, but the demands of military life didn’t faze Melva, who raised their five daughters through every deployment until Fritoso retired in 1963. With the military lifestyle in the rear window, the couple considered what would come next. That was when Melva turned to art.
Getting creative
She said she began to draw and paint when she was in sixth grade, inspired by the work of another girl at school. Watercolor was her first love, but as Melva got older, she added oil and pastels to her repertoire, dabbling in charcoal sketches and pottery along the way.
“I guess the oil was my favorite,” she said. “I just liked the way it went.”
Pastel portraits, her family said, are where Melva’s skills truly shine.
“It’s just a talent that Mama has,” daughter Jean Nease said. “She sees a face and she does it.”
Melva first tested the waters by painting portraits of soldiers while in Munich, then trying her hand at portraits of her daughters when the family returned to the United States. After Fritoso’s retirement, the couple opened up an art gallery and picture framing business behind the Eutaw Village Shopping Center, she said. Melva also offered classes at the shop.
“I don’t claim to be a teacher,” she said. “I just love to experiment.”
Art shaped Melva’s life beyond the family business. She volunteered with the Arts Council for many years and traveled to craft fairs, where she created portraits for people on the spot, she said. Melva and her friends in the arts community organized art shows in downtown Fayetteville, and she occasionally taught art classes at a nursing home in Pinehurst.
“What I liked to do best is work with the people,” she recalled fondly.
When Fritoso became ill in the 1990s, the couple shuttered their business and transitioned to working out of their home, using the downstairs and garage as a shop. Melva took care of her husband by herself until 2005, when he was hospitalized until his death in 2008. As she grew older, her daughters said, she slowed down, but she certainly didn’t stop.
“There’s always something to learn,” Melva said, grinning.
A new perspective
These days, Melva largely prefers to stay comfortable in her armchair, though she insists on getting up every two hours to do something around the house and takes full advantage of the bell on her side table, which she can ring to let her family know if she needs something.
“I’m pretty spoiled,” she laughed.
Two of Melva’s daughters, Jean and Adella Lopez, live with their mother in their Mohawk Avenue home, along with Jean’s husband. Though her life has changed in many ways over the past century, one thing has remained consistent — her painting.
Though Melva doesn’t create the five to six pieces a week she once did, she still offers commissions, focusing mostly on acrylic and watercolor paintings, Jean said.
“She’s very independent,” her daughter said.
Melva’s paintings can be found all over Fayetteville, her family said, sharing anecdotes of finding their matriarch’s works in locations like restaurants and strangers’ homes.
“You bring joy with your artwork everywhere,” Amy told her grandmother.
The family gifted Melva a tablet so she could watch YouTube videos to learn new techniques and improve her craft, something important to the woman who would redo portraits five or six times if she wasn’t happy with the results, Jean said. And family members never forget to snap photos of any barns they happen to pass because Melva loves to paint them — the more decrepit the better, she jokes.
“It’s been really a lovely life,” Melva said. “I don’t know half the time what I’m doing, but I have enjoyed every minute.”