Mary Ellen Campo

Hancock
Mary Ellen Lucchesi was born in Hancock, Michigan, at 2:15 am on June 21st, 1946, to Bruno and Elsie Lucchesi. She would be the second-oldest child of 6 children and the oldest girl of the family. She came with a big, friendly smile, an affable personality, and a love of a challenge. 

She attended Hancock High School and Michigan Tech. Mary Ellen excelled. In high school, she was on numerous committees, the honor roll for all four years, senior class secretary, and received a number of awards. As a freshman, she received an award for humorous reading, a contest sponsored by the Detroit News. In her junior year, she was in the Queen's court for the celebration of the "Village of Hancock" centennial, wearing her favorite color, pink. In her senior year, she won the National Betty Crocker Homemaker Award; her winning recipe was lemon drop cookies. That same year, she even had a date with Bobby Vinton, a teenage idol of the 60's. His signature song was "Blue Velvet". He was in town giving a concert and met Mary Ellen.

In high school, she also loved driving her Jeepster, a bright yellow, two-seater convertible modelled after the famous WWII Willy's Jeep. One of the benefits of her father owning a new and used car dealership, Bruno's Motors.

Her first year at Michigan Tech, she was the Homecoming Queen for the Michigan Tech Huskies. 

Mary Ellen became a nurse and was the nurse director of the coronary care unit, better known as the CCU, at St. Joseph Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a University of Michigan affiliate. 

On August 21, 1982, Mary Ellen and Alfred Campo married in Ann Arbor, a love and great friendship. Years later, they moved to Lakeland, Florida. Mary Ellen switched from nursing to become an educator. Her natural writing and speaking skills served her well. She joined the education department at Lakeland Regional Medical Center and taught nurses and hospital staff. While at Lakeland, Mary Ellen developed and headed a program called "Citizen CPR". She and her staff would go into the community and teach Bystander CPR, CardioPulmonary Resuscitation. This program was one of only a handful of such programs in the entire country. At the same time and while working, Mary Ellen went back to school and completed a business degree from Florida Southern University. 

In 1986, Mary Ellen and her husband moved to Orlando, Florida, and there she became the Director of Human Resources at Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC), mastering all the legal rules of Human Resources. ORMC is the only level one trauma center in Orlando and a 700-bed hospital, including Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital. This was also an exciting time as American businesses were suddenly challenged by the superior quality of Japanese cars coming to the United States. They turned their attention to quality assurance with programs such as TMQ(total quality management), and experts like Edward Deming and Tom Peters toured the country lecturing on quality assurance. Mary Ellen was invited to attend Tom Peters' lecture, author of "In Search of Excellence". She read all the books on quality assurance and eagerly brought this information to teach nurses and hospital staff. She worked with each hospital department so they would become a center of excellence. Early in her career at ORMC, she was chosen and attended the famous Walt Disney School of customer service; Disney is an expert in customer service and satisfaction.

In 1999, she and her husband decided it was time to enjoy the 4 seasons again and moved back to the Midwest. Their first stop was Minneapolis-St. Paul Minnesota. There, Mary Ellen became very active in her church and was the President of the church council of Good Shepard Church in St. Paul.

In 2020, they moved back to Hancock, Michigan, and the land of the original four seasons, most of the time. 

Mary Ellen had a number of hobbies, loves, and pleasures. During the course of her life, she mastered pottery, enjoyed "shelling" on the beaches of Florida, loved getting dressed up and entertaining, playing league tennis doubles with her best friend and partner Linda, trips with her sisters (The Dolly Sisters), but really loved reading, hiking, and spending time with her husband. Mary Ellen would read a book a week. Her favorite book as a child was Passage to the Sea by Holling Clancy Holling, and as an adult, Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrosem the Lewis and Clark Story.

She loved hiking. With her husband in tow and with various groups, she hiked sections of the Appalachian Trail, the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood and Mount Rainier, the Lewis and Clark route down the Missouri River, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon National Parks, often taking the Amtrak train to those locations for an added adventure. 

But for day-to-day pleasures and relaxations, she loved sitting on the couch after a busy work day with her husband, discussing the stories of the day, and sharing a glass of wine. 

On January 31st, 2026, after a protracted illness, Mary Ellen's adventurous life ended for a battle she could not win at Canal View Nursing Home. A full life, well lived, for a wonderful person will be greatly missed. A great loss. 

She is survived by her husband Alfred, her son and the love of her life, Michael Messner IV, her sisters Peggy, Barbara, and Elizabeth, and her brothers Chuck and David.

The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service - Hancock Chapel is assisting the family with the arrangements.