Patrick James Melroy
https://www.plumergobber.com/obituaries/Patrick-James-Melroy?obId=28530564
November 1, 1948 - July 21, 2023
Patrick James "Pat" Melroy died at the Andbe Home on July 21, 2023 following an extended illness. He was 74. Pat was born on Nov. 1, 1948 in Norton to Leo "Mick" and Emily (nee Dunmire) Melroy. He was their only child.
Mick owned and operated Melroy Cafe on West Main St. for many years. Emily, a Tescott native, was a longtime, beloved elementary school teacher in the Norton schools. The family lived in a house on East Main that Mick built. They attended the nearby Catholic church.
Pat grew up endlessly exploring and fishing the Prairie Dog Creek, mowing yards, playing sports, building things, hunting, and fishing---and, always, reading. He read voraciously all his life: science, science fiction, history, novels good and bad.
Pat always did well in school but was not a conventional scholar, and it came as a surprise to some when, as a high school senior, he was awarded a hall scholarship to the University of Kansas, apparently a result of impressive scores on his college entrance exams (Emily, by the way, could add a list of long numbers in her head). Pat joined a fraternity at KU and drove his little Triumph sports car in local gymkhanas. It was said that Pat got either an A or an F in courses at KU, depending on whether he was interested in a subject or not.
During the summers he worked for Gerald Roe of King Const. on bridges in central Kansas. When his KU interlude not surprisingly ended, he was drafted into the Army. This was during the Vietnam War, but Pat's main tour of duty was as a bartender in an officer’s club in the Panama Canal Zone.
Pat learned to skydive, and he was among the first to perfect formation skydiving involving forming a ring in mid-air. He participated in at least one overseas exhibition tour in which ring formations were demonstrated. He jumped many hundreds of times.
When Mick was young, after WWI, he bought a surplus Jenny biplane and learned to fly it. He would later tell Pat how he would attach a meat scale to the tail-skid and rev the engine to see if the plane was flyable that day. Pat eventually learned to fly himself. Later, in 1980, he used the GI Bill to take a crop-dusting course in Albany, Georgia, and he became a professional crop-duster. Later he piloted planes dropping chemicals on wildfires. He moved to Phoenix, Arizona, and when he could no longer pass his flight physical, he worked for a company that specialized in making entryways and doors.
Pat was stricken with a severe, unexplained brain malady several years ago in Phoenix. Warren Harting, who had been farming the Melroy family's land for years, brought him back to Norton and the Andbe Home. Pat could no longer read, or hardly respond. Fellow Andbe Home resident Mary Kay Woodyard read to him and doted on him until death mercifully claimed this remarkable man.
A graveside memorial will be held at 11:00 a.m. Monday, August 7, 2023 at the Norton Cemetery. A private burial was held on Tuesday, July 25 at the Norton Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Second Chance Homeless Pets Society and may be sent in care of Plumer-Gobber Funeral Home, 215 W. Main St., Norton, KS 67654.
Condolences may be left at www.plumergobber.com.
To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Patrick, please visit our Tree Store or plant a tree.