On May 26, 2011, "Shorty" was suddenly taken home to the Lord after a very brief illness of only a couple of weeks.

Just two months earlier, Melvin and his wife Betty had visited with Joe and Patti Lowder in Mesa, Arizona (an annual visit in recent years). At that time he seemed to be in excellent health.

Most notably, during that visit, Shorty and Joe (long-time friends since childhood) had shared their thoughts about what a great life they both had enjoyed and that while they still enjoyed life and looked forward to many more years ... they were "ready to go" at any appointed time that the Lord might want to call them home.

Most notably, Shorty said, "For me, personally, any fear of death and fighting the inevitable is like saying that one does not believe in God.

Rather ironically, we had talked about the great tragedy that the "medical establishment" so often seems to do such a disservice to both individuals and to society by sometimes going to rather extreme measures (and expense) trying to prolong life artificially; and Shorty said, "I certainly do not want any extraordinary measures experimented on me ... I'm ready to go when it is my time."

What a great testimony to faith in God that turned out to be because when the time came, Shorty did exactly what he had said he was going to do. When he suddenly became ill, his actions confirmed his strong faith that there is a God and a promised hereafter for believers ... and he chose to not fight the inevitable.