Melvin L. Carden, 89, of Amarillo died Thursday, Dec. 14, 2006.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday in Schooler-Gordon Funeral Directors Bell Avenue Chapel, 5400 S. Bell St., with the Rev. Gene Goodwin, pastor of First Baptist Church of Valle de Oro, officiating. Burial will be in Memory Gardens Cemetery.

Mr. Carden was born March 11, 1917, in Swenson, Stonewall County, to Tululla Mae and Melvin Littleton Carden. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Mr. Carden had been a resident of Amarillo since 1957, and had worked as an automotive mechanic until 1972.

He was an avid lifetime prospector and was a member of the Golden Spread Gem & Mineral Society. He invented many devices on which he held patents.

Mr. Carden was a devout Christian and an ordained lay minister.

He had served as a volunteer and assistant fire chief of the Valle de Oro Volunteer Fire Department from 1977 to 1994.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Louise Carden, in 1992; and a son, Glenn Charles Carden, in 1986.

Survivors include two sons, M. Don Carden of Amarillo and Jerry Lynn Carden and wife Judy of Wichita Falls; a daughter, Patricia Moore of Amarillo; a sister, Mildred Trammell of Phoenix; 13 grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.