Melvin Joseph Rugg, age 80, passed peacefully on Wednesday, July 18, 2018 at Waccamaw Community Hospital.
Mel was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Frederick Daniel Rugg and Annie Christy Briggette Rugg.
His childhood homes included Massachusetts, Venezuela, California and Vermont. In May of 1952, Mel’s family, parents and eight siblings, moved from Massachusetts to California in a fully-outfitted 46-ft. trailer. It took them a month to make the trip, with many stories to tell when they arrived on the West Coast. Life Magazine traveled and stayed with them for two years documenting their family adventures, and featured a photo essay of that time in the December 28, 1953 edition.
He served as a Radioman third class in the Navy for four and a half years from 1958 to 1962. Mel was the Recruit Commander of Troops at the Recruit Graduation Review on May 24, 1958 in which he was personally in charge of ten recruit companies for a total of 650 men. Upon discharge from the Navy, Mel worked for Nemaska Trucking Company in Massachusetts. His love of music and his percussion skills led to him joining a band, with whom he would play weekend parties and club dates. In 1965 he went to work for Tab Services in Auburndale, MA, where he started his career in IT, and met his future bride and mother of his three children. Never one to pass up a new opportunity, Mel moved his family to Napa, California in 1982 and then back to New England a few years later. His adventurous spirit taught his children the rewards of trying new things and the importance of following your heart, your gut and your dreams. The single most important thing to him was his family and he constantly strove to set a good example and instill strong values in his children. In 1997 Mel started his own company, PowerResource, where he and his sister Dona eventually developed the emergency response system CarePlus. He and his wife moved to Carolina Shores, NC in 2003. He retired in 2008.
Mel was a devoted husband and father. He is survived by his wife, Linda Grenga Rugg, his son and daughter-in-law Daniel and Julia, daughters Carla and Karen and his grandchildren. He is also survived by his brothers Robert (Diane), Terry, and Brynn (Sue) Rugg, and sister Dona Sheehan (Dave), brother-in-law Ed Grenga (Peggy), sister-in-law Lorraine Austin and many nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held at Lee Funeral Home, 11840 SC-90, Little River, SC 29566 on August 14, 2018 at Noon.
In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made to the Ronald MacDonald House Charities, an organization very close to Mel’s heart.
A guestbook is available at www.leefhandcrematory.com.
Lee Funeral Home & Crematory of Little River/North Myrtle Beach is serving the family.
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