Melody Sue (Woodruff) Minett (1960 - 2016)

Melody Sue Woodruff was born Jan. 27, 1960 in Goldendale. She died Sept. 19, 2016 at her sister's home in The Dalles, Oregon. She was daughter of Lawrence Woodruff and Violet Browning. She married Vernon Lynn Minett on Oct. 9, 1994 in Goldendale, Washington. Child of Vernon Lynn Minett and Melody Woodruff is:

1. Daniel Nathan Wayne Minett.


OBITUARY
The Godendale Sentinel
Goldendale, Washington
September 28, 2016

Melody Sue Woodruff was born Jan. 27, 1960 in Goldendale. She passed away at her sister's home in The Dalles on Monday, Sept. 19, 2016 at 9 p.m.

Melody attended grade school in Wahkiacus, Goldendale, and The Dalles, Oregon. Her high school years were spent at Laurelwood Academy where she graduated in 1979.

Melody's musical talents were discovered at a very young age and she started singing alto with her sisters at the age of 5. She loved music and was rightly named. She shared her faith through music and spent several years working with independent ministries.

Vern Minett caught her eye while she was working for the Printed Page in Montana, and followed her to different performances in Montana, Walla Walla, Spokane and Portland. They talked on the phone having evening worship for a few months and then started spending more time together. It was at a Bishop Fire camp that the relationship between Vern and Melody grew and on Oct. 9, 1994, they were married in Goldendale. Daniel joined their home in November 1965, and shares the some love of music as his mother.

Melody's association with Bishop Companies started in 1993. By the late 1990's her management skills and her ability to work with staff blossomed. She was always able to assign work crews to perform at maximum efficiency. She always shied away from being management, but one hectic summer in the 1990,s she along with John Wade and Daniel Lefever resurrected an additional kitchen unit out of spare parts and headed to South Dakota. They worked together for the rest of that summer. From that point on she was a vital player with the Bishop Organization.

Following Hurricane Katrina, she ran a Mobile Kitchen Unit at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, feeding over 750 first responders daily. It was this camp that Bishop Organized and prepared 147,000 lunches in one week for FEMA when MRE’s were running short.

The Bishop family was always in debt to Melody from suggesting and creating non-meat protein meals. With Melody in charge vegetarian lunches were created fresh and from scratch every day. It wasn't uncommon that her vegetarian lunches were in bigger demand than traditional lunches.

Melody had a keen memory and could recall the names of forest service management teams she worked with from her first years. She worked for Bishop Companies until September 3, 2015.

Melody was preceded in death by her father Lawrence Woodruff, Brother Lawrence David Woodruff Jr., her nephew Joseph Martin Celaya and her grandnephew Mark Andrew Rush 111.

She is survived by her husband Vern and son Daniel both of Wahkiacus, Washington, her mother Violet, brother Lynn and sister Janice Cox also of Wahkiacus, sister Patti Patti Heimrich of Okeene, Oklahoma, sisters Roxie Cowart and Nancy Cox of The Dalles, Oregon, sister Josie Celaya of Goldendale, Washington, sister Marta Thomas of Covington, Indiana and Sandra Baird of Washougal, Washington. She also has many nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews, aunts, uncles and cousins. 1)

1) Thanks to Janet Minett for this info.