Mel Price was born in Mason City, NE on January 5, 1927 to Roy and Esther (Gill) Price; He is preceded in death by his spouse of 69 years, Lois (Funston) Price. Parents Roy and Esther (Gill) Price and , brothers Larry, Edwin and Raymond and sisters Lewola Runge and Bernice Yohn.
Mel is survived by his daughter Judy (Max) Marquart of Lincoln and son, Rick (Theresa) Price of Hamburg, Iowa. Grandchildren, Drew Price, Leisa Marquart and Shawn Price. Three step-grandchildren, Barbara Steiger, Amanda Putnam and Eric Putnam. Five great grandchildren include Kenyon Price, Kaylee Price, Makayla Price, Shaylee Price and Ella Becker. Step-great grandchildren include Patrick Barton, Brayden Barton, Jacob Barton, Mackenzie Barton, Joseph Putnam, Jayden Putnam, Jeramiah Putnam, A.J. Price, Cory Steiger and Ethan Steiger.
Mel graduated from Mason City High School on May 11, 1944. He married Lois on June 16, 1946. They had two children, Judy and Rick.
Mel and Lois moved to Broken Bow where Mel ran the meat department in the grocery store. In 1953, they moved to Lincoln.
Mel and Lois enjoyed their Lincoln community. They joined several bowling leagues and played cards with their friends nearly every Saturday night. They were avid Husker Football fans. Mel and Lois had many lifelong friends.
They loved to travel and after Judy and Rick left home, they began taking regular bus trips to Kansas City to see the Royals play. They traveled to Hawaii with friends and also went on several bus trips to the Nebraska Bowl games.
Mel and Lois loved going dancing and especially enjoyed dancing to Big Band music, namely Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey. They listened to ”old time” country music and even after the passing of Lois, Mel continued to enjoy watching “Mollie B’s Polka Party” on TV.
Mel retired from Hinky Dinky supermarkets where he was the meat market manager. Following his retirement, he worked for Roche Labs and was employed by the University of Nebraska for over 25 years on their event staff. Mel also had a lawn mower repair business out of his home for many years following his retirement.
Mel’s active lifestyle was challenged by his chronic COPD, which progressed rapidly the past few years. After the passing of Lois, he was very adamant that he was not going to an assisted living facility. He lived independently in their home up until he was admitted into Bryan Hospital just 13 days ago. He was diagnosed with Pancreatitus. His gall bladder became infected and the onset of pneumonia set in. Due to his age and the severity of his COPD, surgery to remove his gall bladder was not an option. Living in an assisted living facility on a ventilator and feeding tube was not the quality of life that Mel would have wanted. Judy and Rick were faced with the challenge last Wednesday of having the nourishment he was receiving from IV’s to be removed. Sadly, Mel passed the following evening, Thursday, August 31.