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Maxine Palumbo Payne, 93, of Alderson/Hinton, WV passed away on Friday, Feb 4, 2011 after a short illness. She was born in St. Albans, WV on Oct 11, 1917. She was born into the family of Georgia and Larry Vincent Pezzanite of Alderson, WV and had 7 siblings including 6 sisters and 1 brother.

She was preceded in death by her parents Georgia and Larry Vincent Pezzanite of Alderson, WV,
first husband Clement L. Palumbo of McAllen, TX and
second husband, James Earl “Shorty” Payne of Hinton, WV
her brother Larry Vincent Pezzanite, Jr.,
her sister’s Pauline Lanzi of South Point, OH,
Theda Farmer of Pulaski, VA
And Lillian Foster of Las Vegas, NV.

She is survived by her children Preston Palumbo of Alderson, WV and Jeri Palumbo of Los Angeles, CA.
Sisters Melba “Blue” Miller of Lompoc, CA
Sister Geraldine Carlson of Homossassa, FL
Sister Natalie Phillips of Charlton Heights, WV.

Maxine had an amazing career encompassing many talents and areas. She was an accomplished painter and artist, dress designer, creative photographer, “magician” and Spanish interpreter for the Dept of Immigration and Naturalization. But Maxine was most noted for her genius musicianship and razor-sharp comedic talent, and her ability to speak multiple languages fluently including the made-up language of “Alfalfa”. She was an accomplished jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist mastering such instruments as the piano, accordion, organ and guitar. She was a creative photographer for The Greenbrier Hotel in the late 60’s and 70’s. She was employed for almost 30 years at The Fort Savannah Inn in Lewisburg,WV as a professional jazz musician. But it was her mastery of the language “Alfalfa” that landed her national recognition as herself, Maxine, on The John Boy and Bill Show. These skills sustained her career the majority of her life.

Maxine’s accomplishments, talents and performances were wide and varied throughout her illustrious career. All that Maxine did, she did with complete Mastery.

Memorial services will be conducted Thursday, Feb 10, 2011 @ 7pm, Longanacre Funeral Home Chapel, Fairlea, WV.

Friends may call from 6pm until time of the service at the funeral home.

To say she lived a full life would be an understatement.

I met her once, and have heard a ton of stories about her. My favorite was the one where she found out her husband was having an affair with a woman who lived in another town. She took their daughter to the town and found the other woman and struck up a converstion with her and told her how much of a resemblence she had to another relative. Maxine asked the woman if she minded her taking a picture of her with her daughter. The "other woman" had no idea at all who Maxine was, so she agreed. Maxine got the picture developed and put it on her husband's plate at breakfast one morning.

Salfail Olfon Malfaxine.