Feb. 27, 2002 – Gertrude Dudley Melchior, who reigned over V.I. Carnival for nearly 50 years, died around 2 p.m. Wednesday at Roy L. Schneider Hospital. She was 80.
Melchior, the wife of Ariel Melchior Sr., co-founder of The Daily News newspaper, would have celebrated her 81st birthday on March 17, St. Patrick's Day.
According to a nephew, Ronnie Lockhart, Melchior was admitted to the hospital last weekend after suffering a brief illness. Lockhart said his aunt was the last of the four Lockhart children. Ronnie Lockhart's father, Herbert D. Lockhart, the youngest of the siblings, died in 1990.
Glenn "Kwabena" Davis remembered Melchior as the "Mistress of Mas." "She was in every Carnival from the first one in 1952," he said. "She was one of the organizers of the first Carnival. The Lockhart and Dudley family names were synonymous with Carnival."
Davis continued, "She added the grand touch to the idea of floats, and with her not being there in the last few years, you saw her absence with the slow demise of the floats."
Melchior's memorable Carnival roles, he recalled, were as the favorite "Lady Satan in Dante's Inferno," the sun in "Look for the Silver Lining," an Egyptian queen, Queen Elizabeth, and the French madame in "My Lady's Boudoir."
Kenneth "Blakey" Blake, V.I. Carnival Committee chair, remembered Melchior fondly. "She was a real nice person," he said. "When she wasn't on the floats any more, she started helping other people with them."
To Davis, "She was definitely, in truth, the 'Mistress of Mas.' The way she adorned herself in those magnificent, extravagant costumes. I always remember her favorite phrase — 'Don't let Carnival die.'"
Melchior is survived by two children, attorney George H.T. Dudley and Dr. Rita Dudley Grant, from her first marriage, to George Dudley. She married Ariel Melchior Sr. on July 23, 1975.
Grant said the family would be issuing a formal statement.
