Melissa Ann Creech

Melissa Creech, 49 of Jacksonville, passed away on May 19, 2024. A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, June 4, 2024 at 5pm at Jones Funeral Home Chapel in Jacksonville. The family will receive friends prior to the service, beginning at 4:00pm.
Melissa (better known as Creech or Creechie to most) started her career in emergency medicine while she was still in high school, as a volunteer at the Richlands Rescue Squad. To some extent, she was following in her father's footsteps, as he was the Chief of the Rescue Squad. While she was there, she earned recognition as Squad Person of the Year. During this time, she also worked at the Girl Scout Camp in Supply, NC for two summers as the head Medical Officer. In May 1995, she graduated with an AAS from Coastal Carolina Community College in Emergency Medical Services and shortly thereafter was hired by Onslow County EMS. She worked there for many years and was very instrumental in several capacities: she held child car seat safety checkpoints throughout the county, assisted law enforcement at DUI checkpoints throughout the county as a medical provider, assisted FEMA in Princeville, NC during their recovery period after hurricane Floyd, served on the Child Fatalities Committee with Onslow Memorial Hospital, set up a program with OCEMS so that when Marine helicopter Pedro, Cherry Point MCAS's search and rescue helicopter, flew a mission, they would be assisted by an OCEMS Paramedic, and served OCEMS in the training department. Going above and beyond consistently earned Creechie the Paramedic of the Year award from OCEMS in 2000 and Outstanding Paramedic of the Year from the Jacksonville Jaycees in 2001.
After her employment with OCEMS, she worked for OMH in the Emergency Room, coordinating transportation for patients who needed medical services provided by another medical facility.
In 2012, Creechie moved to Detroit, MI, where she continued her work in the emergency medical field. This time, she devoted her time as a 911 dispatcher. She was lead dispatcher for Community EMS in Southfield, MI, and helped forge a CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management) team for them. As a dispatcher, she talked many people away from the edge and many times from going over it.
By the end of her time in Detroit, Creechie had started suffering from several conditions that kept her in pain every day. She endured multiple back surgeries as well as multiple joint replacement surgeries that did little to relieve her pain. So, she returned to Onslow County, NC in 2020 to be with her mother, Lucia, who could assist her with her medical needs.
In Onslow County, Creechie worked with USMC Chaplain Stephen Bird on the REBOOT--First Responders program. Most recently, she found a new church that had just come to town and was put in charge of helping them build their Jacksonville congregation by the Pastor, Matthew Spasoto. She was so thankful to God for bringing them here and was so happy to be able to help her community again, something that came naturally to her.
Melissa was preceded in death by her father, Robert "Bob" Creech; her maternal and paternal grandparents; and her infant brother, Robert Louis Creech.
She is survived by her mother, Lucia Creech; her sisters, Holly Furtado and Julie Kirkland; her maternal aunt, Rosalyn Shepard; her nephews, Brayden Furtado, Zoey Furtado, Victoria Kirkland, Alexis Kirkland, and Elizabeth Kirkland; her adoptive dad, Larry Rocke; and extended family and friends.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to The Cancer Society in Melissa's honor.