Melvin Wayne Kralicek

Melvin W. Kralicek passed away December 15, 2016. He was born in Yankton, South Dakota in 1925. His parents were Fred and Anna Kralicek, and he had one brother, Fred Jr., and three sisters, Helen Hejna, Alice Moore, and Dr. Adeline Cooper. After graduating high school in Yankton in 1943, he left to go to a warmer climate, ending up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He became a truck driver for a road construction company. At the end of WWII, he bought a truck and contracted to haul freight for Navaho Freight Lines between Albuquerque and Amarillo, Texas. He met and married Rebecca Walker and they had one son, Wayne. After Rebecca’s death, Mel and Wayne went to live with Granny Smith in El Paso, Texas and he started driving for Safeway. During a visit back to Yankton, he found out that his high school sweetheart, Ethel Hermanson, was also back in the area. They reconnected and dated for several months before they got married. Mel took his new bride down to El Paso where he had bought a new house. He continued driving for Safeway, eventually becoming their #1 driver with 32 years and 3 million accident-free miles behind him. After retiring, Mel volunteered at the Valley Congregational Church and later at Bethany Christian Church, doing maintenance on the buildings and grounds. He loved to tinker and fix things, leaving more than one person to claim that he was a frustrated engineer. His friends at the church referred to anything that he had been worked on by Mel as having been “Melvinized”. He also loved his two grandchildren, Kevin Kralicek of Loveland, Colorado and Carrie Van Gunst of Alice Springs, Australia. Each of them have provided Melvin with a great-grand child, Kira and Archer. We were fortunate to have gotten a 4-generation photo with Melvin this past July. Visitation will be Tuesday, December 20, 2016 from 10 to 11 am with a memorial service at 11 am at F.D.A. Martin Funeral Home East. Burial will be at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Yankton, South Dakota. Services entrusted to F.D.A. Martin East, 1460 George Dieter Dr. Please visit our virtual register book and watch our picture collection at www.funerariasdelangel.com/martin-east