Melissa Anne Weeks

EXETER - Melissa Anne Weeks, 59, born October 31, 1957, in Exeter, N.H., died Saturday, January 21, 2017, at Hyder Family Hospice House, Dover, N.H.

She attended schools in Hampton, Portsmouth, and Eliot, Maine and graduated from Marshwood High School (Eliot, ME) in 1975. She attended classes at the Worchester Art Museum (Massachusetts) in the 1980's. She received a Bachelor's of Fine Arts from the University of New Hampshire in 1994. During her undergraduate studies, she was awarded a research grant from UNH to study collaborative painting. She taught collaborative painting to others, introducing them to the arts, helping those who were afraid to pick up a paint brush. Other accomplishments included a grant from Liquitek for "Excellence in Art," and she had her design accepted for a magazine cover for Engineer One (British magazine).

Melissa was a local multi-talented artist who painted miniature portraits, oil paintings, and created earrings using antique copper, selling her jewelry at Exeter Fine Crafts. Melissa was a member of the Seacoast Art Association and showed her works in Exeter. She was a social activist and worked with the Open Door City Coalition of Portsmouth in the 1990's for protection of rights for gays and lesbians, laying the groundwork for eventual legalized gay marriage in New Hampshire in 2010. Melissa was a member of South Church in Portsmouth in the 1990's and later a member of the Congregational Church of Exeter. She began her career at Data General as an inventory planner, and later worked at Seacoast Mental Health Center (SMHC), providing support and inspiration to those with serious mental illness. She also participated in the Art of Recovery, sponsored by SMHC, pairing artists with individuals suffer mental illness.

In 2010 she reached her lifetime dream of a trip to Greece. Melissa loved nature, gardening, photography, and watching the birds. She loved life and was always looking through her creative lens to see new designs and colors. She was close to her family and always looked forward to the family's holiday gatherings. Melissa is remembered best by her bright smile, her gentleness, generosity, grace, and tender personality.

She is predeceased by her partner, Lynn A. Watkins, her father, Richard D. Weeks, Sr., and two brothers. She is survived by her spouse, Mary Anne Totten, MD; her mother, Mary Weeks Dipina of Winchester, N.H.; sisters, Kathy Buckley, Hinsdale, N.H.; Debby Marshall, Eliot, Maine, and numerous nieces and nephews, and grand nieces and nephews.

SERVICES: A memorial service will be held at The Congregational Church of Exeter on Saturday, February 4, 2017, at 1 p.m. Online condolences may be made by visiting www.jspelkeyfuneralhome.com. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Seacoast Mental Health Center, 1145 Sagamore Ave., Portsmouth, N.H., 03801. Care for the Weeks family has been entrusted to the JS Pelkey Funeral Home.