Melanie Maddox Balzer

1948 - 2020

Melanie Maddox Balzer

Miss Melanie Maddox Balzer was born on March 21, 1948, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Robert L. Maddox, Jr., and Mary "Hap" Maddox. At 18-months, she and her sister, Candy, who was 4, contracted polio during a polio epidemic. The polio left Miss Melanie with a shortened Achilles tendon in one leg that left her with a limp.

In the early 1950s, Miss Melanie and her family moved to Des Moines, Iowa. She attended public schools in Des Moines and graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1966. After high school, there was only one university that Miss Melanie wanted to attend. She was a huge fan of the University of Iowa and she entered the university in the fall of 1966.

I met Miss Melanie at the University of Iowa and knew she was a unique, special young lady. When we met, she was a smoker and I thought it was disgusting. As our friendship became serious, we discussed the usual stuff that smitten college students discuss, such as, getting married. I informed her that I was not going to give her an engagement ring if she did not stop smoking. She stopped at that time.

Shortly after my graduation from the University of Iowa, we were married on June 21, 1969. About 18-months later, I was drafted into the US Army. When we arrived at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, Miss Melanie taught school in Lawton, Oklahoma. She greatly enjoyed teaching and interacting with her students.

After our military experience in 1972, wonderful Miss Melanie taught school for several years at Valley West High School in West Des Moines, Iowa. She thoroughly enjoyed teaching at Valley West.

Shortly after our first daughter, Gretchen, was born, we moved to Bolingbrook, Illinois, in February 1978. At that time, Miss Melanie retired from teaching to be a stay at home Mom. Shortly after moving to Illinois, our second daughter, Erica, was born. When Gretchen and Erica were in grade school, Miss Melanie volunteered as an aide in their school rooms.

Miss Melanie and I loved to travel. She relished buying clothes for a trip, traveling to various locations and meeting people from many cultures. We took our daughters on many of our trips, especially on cruises. Our first cruise was in 1985 when we, as a family, cruised to Alaska. We also cruised as a family to the Caribbean, Panama Canal, Australia and New Zealand.

After our daughters had gone to college, we traveled to Austria, China, Croatia, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sweden, Tanzania, and Vietnam. We had planned to travel to other locations; however, Miss Melanie's illness did not permit it.

Miss Melanie was a buyer, not a shopper. She did not require a lot of time in selecting an item. In some cases, she would point at an item and tell the clerk to wrap it up. When visiting favorite stores or craft shows, she spent, spent and spent. With the advent of Internet shopping, the remarkable Miss Melanie was extremely happy. She was able to buy at any time of day and buy she did. Often, her purchases were for family and friends because she had a huge heart and shared gifts with others.

Being fashion conscious and a well coordinated dresser, Miss Melanie carefully selected her outfits. Each night, she would choose an outfit for the next day. All items were color coordinated, with a matching jewelry set, and she looked stunning each day.

Miss Melanie was a huge greeting card person. Birthdays, thank yous, anniversaries, holidays, graduations, weddings, sympathy and more were card events for amazing Miss Melanie. She had stacks of cards, for all occasions, ready for immediate use. A heartfelt, handwritten note was mandatory in each card that Miss Melanie sent. She used her annual calendar listing birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and other events to religiously send cards to family and friends.

A wonderful mother, Melanie loved our two daughters (Gretchen, Erica). She loved having daughters, buying them clothes, watching them grow and getting married.

She was an outstanding grandmother for our two beautiful granddaughters (Caroline, Eloise). Each time we saw these young ladies, Melanie beamed with pride. They loved their Nana and she deeply loved them.

A huge dog lover, Miss Melanie transported dogs from kill shelters to no kill shelters. She also volunteered with the Illinois Shorthair Rescue organization to rescue and save dogs in danger. Her work with dogs was deeply enriching and rewarding. She proudly showed me photos of dogs she saved during a dog rescue. We also had family dogs and she loved them all; however, her Sadie was her loving favorite. Often she said that when she died, she hoped to see Sadie again. It is my hope that she is throwing a ball for Sadie on a field of green grass and they are having a ton of fun.

Miss Melanie loved to complete crossword puzzles, Soduko puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. She busied herself with puzzles during many activities including waiting for appointments, riding in the car or while listening to TV.

Gossip magazines, but only the quality ones, were a staple in Miss Melanie's life. She did not like trashy gossip magazines, such as Star, but relished US and People magazines. I asked why US was better than Star and she just shook her head at me as if to say, "oh, you poor dear, you will never understand." The quality gossip magazines provided her the latest information on the leading actors and celebrities.

An avid wrist watch wearer and collector, Miss Melanie looked for new watches at every opportunity. Often, she purchased several of the same watch because it came in a range of colored bands. She coordinated the color of the band with the clothes she wore on a specific day. At last count, her watch collection totaled 1,137 watches.

Paper was a vital element in Miss Melanie's life. She had a vital need to have Kleenex at her disposal all the time. These tissues were in her purses, car, coat pockets, all around the house and had to go with us on trips. There were never enough tissues around for Miss Melanie. The storage area at our home currently has 178 Kleenex boxes of various shapes and sizes. Another paper product that was vitally important to Miss Melanie was toilet paper. She had a specific brand and style that she used. Since I was a guy, she said I would not understand the importance of good, soft, quality toilet paper. She was a fanatic about having rolls of "her" toilet paper around.

Christmas was a major event for Miss Melanie. She required a large tree on which to display her massive collection of ornaments. During our travels, she purchased ornaments from the locations we visited. She also loved buying gifts for family and friends for Christmas.

A devout believer in the Golden Rule, Miss Melanie truly lived by the adage "do unto others as you would want them to do unto you". She believed it was incumbent upon each of us to help others, be kind to others and to be of service to others.

Late in September 2016, Miss Melanie was diagnosed with leukemia. She stayed positive, said she would be fine and embarked upon a plan to rid her body of the disease. She also said if I was going to be filled with gloom and doom to get out and stay out. We would take things a day at a time, she told me and she said she would be fine.

In June 2017, Miss Melanie had a stem cell transplant using donor cells from a 24-year old male from Germany. The transplant was successful and lovely Miss Melanie was strong and healthy. In April 2018, a virus had morphed into a disorder that became lymphoma in her cerebral spinal fluid. Miss Melanie stayed positive and survived having had lymphoma in her brain. She continued to live life on her terms. When the leukemia returned in March 2019, she said she was fine and returned to her daily routine.

Dynamic Miss Melanie's strength, perseverance and strong positive focus helped her through a number of issues. She was a supremely powerful, caring lady who endured so much with dignity and grace. Miss Melanie truly was a national treasure and her inspirational story will lift up all who come to learn about her.

If you would like to make a donation or a memorial in Miss Melanie's name, we ask that you consider the following:

Above and Beyond English Setter Rescue, esrescue.org

Anti-Cruelty Society of Chicago,

https://anticruelty.org

Illinois Shorthair Rescue, www.ilshorthairrescue.com

Donate to or volunteer at a local animal shelter or animal rescue facility.