S. Noel Melvin

Genevieve Noel Melvin and Stanley Tichnor Melvin, was born in Cincinnati January 10,

1928. He attended Kilgour Grade School and Walnut Hills High School.

Accelerating, he left Walnut Hills after his Junior year to go to Williams College where

he majored in political economics and then graduated in 1948. He went to the

University of Michigan Law School, graduating and passing the Michigan Bar in 1951.

He enlisted in the United States Air Force and served on active duty first as a second

lieutenant in the Medical Service Corp and subsequentally as a first lieutenant in the

Judge Advocate General’s Department, spending a year in Greenland during the

Korean War. He left active duty in 1953 and served as a Captain in the Air Force

Reserve until 1956.

After leaving active service, he passed the Ohio Bar and became an Assistant

Attorney General of Ohio under C. William O’Neill and William Saxbe. He entered

private practice in 1958, becoming a partner in the law firm of Power, Griffith & Jones.

He later became Of Counsel at the firm now known as Kegler, Brown Hill & Ritter. He

was there until his retirement after 50 years of litigation practice.

His professional societies included: The Columbus Bar Association, where he was

chairman of the professional ethics committee; The Ohio State Bar Association where

he served as a member of its House of Delegates from Columbus; The Columbus

Defense Association (President); The Ohio Association of Civil Trial Attorneys; The

International Association of Insurance Counsel and the American Bar Association.

His community service revolved around the Ohio Republican Party Finance Committee,

United Appeals of Central Ohio and the Father’s Board of the Columbus Academy.

Noel was a member of The Columbus Club, The Golf Club, The Rocky Fork

Hunt and Country Club, and the Columbus Beach Club (Michigan) where, over a period

of 18 years he served on its Board of Trustees, and as its treasurer, secretary and

president.

His happiest moments were spent on his boat, both sailing and

cruising as he did primarily off of the coast of Maine, in the Great Lakes and the

North Channel. When in Columbus, he often spent weekends at The Golf Club,

enjoying wonderful partners, but far less wondrous golf handicaps. In his last year,

more than anything, he wanted to have the strength and balance to be able to hit a

golf ball again and trout fish in the Little Sturgeon River. Sadly his time ran out. These

dreams were to elude him.

He enjoyed hours in the glorious clutter of his workshop extracting tools from their

boxes so he could putter and fix, saw and clamp, align and glue. What he did best, said

his close friends, was to overengineer. However, overruns in time and supplies were

never a deterent to his finishing the great triumph of his woodworking career ... a mag-

nificent, spacious, realtor-ready, treeless-treehouse, built for his children and the

neighbors.

Geographically, his favorite spots were to be found in Egypt, brimming full of the history

that filled his archeological curiosity, and then his cottage in Michigan named “Wit’s

End”, so called because of his streaming and creative wit and because it was always

the place at which he wanted to conclude his vacations

Noel was survived by his devoted wife, Diana (Anne) Harris Melvin; his son, Mark

Carlile Melvin (Michelle) of Warrenton, VA; daughter, Seton Jeffrey Melvin, of New York

City; and daughter, Anne Tichnor Melvin and her husband Daniel J. Sullivan of

Wellesley, MA; grandson, Finn Sullivan; granddaughters, Shauna Sullivan, Kathleen

Melvin, Caroline Melvin.

In the last 16 months of his life Noel was helped by devoted caregivers: Marty Hay,

Shawnna McGraw, Kristen McGraw, Rachel O’Neil, Teresa Williams and Angie Red-

zinak. They cared for him with dedication, humor, love and humility. May they know his

family’s great admiration and gratitude.

A Memorial Service will be held, at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 1 at St. Alban’s

Episcopal Church, 333 S. Drexel Ave., Bexley, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, memorial

contributions may be made to The Columbus Symphony Orchestra, 55 E, State Street,

Columbus, Ohio 43215, or to a charity of your choice. Please visit

www.schoedinger.com to share memories or extend condolences.