Mel was born September 22, 1917 in Supply, Oklahoma, the fourth of six children of Richard Volkman and Mary Eveline Blakeley. The family later moved to Yakima, Washington. He joined the Navy in 1940 and married Flora Elouise Haney January 20 1942. They raised two children.
He was trained as a dental technician while in the Navy and continued in that career after the war. He eventually had his own dental laboratory. He resided in the same home in Shoreline, Washington for over 60 years.
In 1961, he and his family joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he became very active as a stake missionary and a Seventy.
He was preceded in death by his parents, siblings, wife Elouise, and daughter Ivy Volkman Berg. He is survived by his son Bradley James Volkman of Shoreline, eight grandchildren, Ethen Volkman, Adam Volkman, Flora Johnson, Jennifer Keller, Allen Berg, Hyrum Berg, Samuel Berg, and Sage Marie Ingersoll, and by sixteen great-grandchildren.
