John Edwin Melin

John Edwin Melin passed away, Saturday, March 23, 2013 in Casper, Wyoming. Funeral services for John E. Melin will be held at 11:00 AM, Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at the United Methodist Church in Worland with Pastor Jim Melin officiating. Masonic Rites will be performed. Interment will be at 11 AM, Friday, March 29, 2013, at Short Hill Cemetery, south of Livingston, with a gathering to follow at the Pine Creek United Methodist Church, 2468 East River Road. The family respectfully requests memorials in John's name may be made to Mountain View Regional Hospital, 6550 East 2nd Street, Casper WY 82609 and Central Wyoming Hospice & Transitions Home, 319 South Wilson Street, Casper W 8260l. He was the son of Marion A. (Niles) and Walter Melin. He was born March 1, 1928, in Livingston, MT, and raised on the family ranch in Paradise Valley, graduating Salutatorian at Park County High School. John married Nancy K. Pomajbo, June 17, 1951, at the Pine Creek United Methodist Church near the family home. John was highly inventive and actively pursued diversification of the ranch incomes by building a saw mill and processing timber harvested from the mountain acreage. Other services were of cutting and threshing oats and straw, beginning with horse-drawn farm equipment. John invented irrigation system timing devices, cattle ear tags, and tagging devices, always looking for ways to improve the way his work was done. In 1960, John relocated his family to the W-Diamond Ranch, south of Ten Sleep, Wyoming, and worked as the ranch Forman until 1966, when the ranch change ownership and became Otter Creek Grazing Association. John purchased his Super Cub and it became a common sight to catch a glimpse of the reflection of wings in the early morning sunlight, soaring over the mountainside in search of stray cattle or wayward sheep. He was a skilled pilot, flying many miles in the foam-rubber-seat "saddle" using his talents to efficiently manage 90,000 acres as well as flying for neighbors to find lost herds. If there was a rare moment to be called his leisure, John was known to chase the cows from the road and land near his favorite fly-fishing hole at Bear Trap Creek in the Big Horn Mountains. In 1970, when his back gave out from too many miles of rough, dirt roads, ornery horses, and hard physical work, John entered his second life career as a licensed farm and ranch Realtor establishing Melin Realty in Worland, Wyoming. On April 20, 1973, he married his second wife, Edna Crowder and blended their families. John acted as President of the Realtors Farm and Land Institute, Wyoming Chapter 47, in 1977, then proudly accepted the Realtor of the Year Award. His years of experience and his gift to gab made him a prominent agent, handling properties throughout the Big Horn Basin. In 1988, John married his third wife, Dee Snider, at Worland. John enjoyed hunting and fishing with dear friends, canoeing rivers and lakes of Wyoming and Montana with his wife, brother, and son, and camping in the wilderness among the wildlife. He shared his passion of nature and his belief that the most magnificent cathedral upon earth was the mountain vistas made by the hands of God. John is preceded in death by his mother and father, his brother, George Melin, and his sister, Dorothy (Cupe) Stermitz. John is survived by his wife, Dee; three children, Debbie Melin of Casper WY, Dori Wright of Tooele UT, and Daniel Melin of Hurricane UT; four step-children, Kathy Kristen of Burlington WY, Charleen Hamilton of Worland WY, LaDonna Carlile of Boulder WY, and David Dye of Worland WY, eleven grandchildren and nine step-grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren and twelve step-great grandchildren. John is also survived by his sister, Mavis Rogers of Helena MT, and his brother, David Melin of Worland WY, and several nephews and nieces.