Saturday, March 3, 2018
My acquaintance with Mel dates from 1984, early after I began managing Heather Gardens Association. HG was where Mel and his wife, Dora, came to live in Aurora during retirement. I left HG as a hired hand in 1990.
My wife and I returned to HG as owners in 2006. We chose to live in Mel's building and were glad that we came to know him better. Mel was a staunch Republican, so we had many mini-debates. But we found much to agree on about how HG was governed and managed. Most importantly, we both enjoyed life in HG. Mel was a respected leader in our building and around the HG community.
However, Mel was a private person. He had many friends at synagogue. He had a poker group. Until recently, he enjoyed duplicate bridge. He loved his music. He read the daily newspaper. He stayed abreast of current events. There was no doubt how deeply religious--Jewish--he was.
In his early nineties, he had outlived many of the people who moved to Building 204 in 1973. In the past two months, we lost one 100 year old resident, Mel and one other 90+ year old resident, and one 82 year old resident. So if the attendance at Mel's funeral was low, there are many reasons that was the case. (My reason was that my wife was due for a downtown medical consult for surgery scheduled to occur next week.)
My wife and I would have preferred to attend Mel's funeral. We and many other HG residents will miss his warm smile and his presence.
Selby Myers
