Peter Nelson Melanson Jr.

Portsmouth, NH – Peter Nelson Melanson, Jr, age 60, a resident of Portsmouth for most of his life, and US Navy Veteran, died peacefully at home surrounded by his family on March 7, 2025.
Born April 8, 1964, and raised in Portsmouth NH, a 'townie', he was the son of the late Peter Nelson Melanson, Sr. and Carol Ann (MacMullen) Melanson.
Pete served in the US Navy from 1984-1987. During his years of service, he lived in Norfolk, VA and was stationed on USS Shreveport LPD-12, an amphibious transport dock ship, where he worked as a fireman and engineman, and USS Coral Sea CV-43, an aircraft carrier where he manned the plane elevators and worked as an engineman. While in the Navy, his service took him across the Equator, through the Panama Canal, and to many European countries. Pete took full advantage of the benefits of traveling the world – visiting historical sites, enjoying local cuisine, and learning all he could of the regional traditions of the countries he visited across the globe.
After the Navy, he worked as a long-haul truck driver, living in Harrisburg, PA. He crisscrossed the United States multiple times during these years – traveling all east-west highways and north-south routes within the US. He was incredibly well-traveled and loved to tell the stories of the adventures he had in the countries, cities, and rural areas he visited throughout his life.
Prior to his cancer diagnosis, Peter worked for Thermo-Fisher Scientific for nearly 30 years. His years of work in the service depot took him all over the world again – traveling to the Netherlands, Germany, and Taiwan, as well as nearly every state in the US. He also spent many days at MIT, Brigham and Women, Mass General, and the Massachusetts Coroners Office, ensuring their medical grade constant temperature equipment continued to work as needed. In 2020, he was selected to travel to the Pfizer plant in North Carolina to ensure their equipment would maintain the necessary temperatures for production of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Pete was an avid outdoorsman, having summited all the 4,000 footers in New Hampshire as a young man, and had a love of camping, which began in the Boy Scouts and continued for his entire life. For more than 20 years, he was a regular camper at Mi Te Jo in Milton, NH – bringing his daughter, Sarah, and later his Jerram nieces, Allie and Maddie – teaching them all to swim, snorkel, canoe, fish, and search for fairy stones. And he was thrilled to have been able to do one last camping trip with his brother last October.
Pete found great joy in making people laugh either through his spot-on nicknames for friends and family or his made-up songs and rhymes. But his greatest joy was in his family – being son, brother, and husband, as well as Papa to Sarah, and Uncle PP to his nieces, nephews, and generations of cousins.
Besides his loving wife, Betsy (Jerram), he is survived by his daughter, Sarah Electa of NC; brother Dan (Heidi Amaral) of Portsmouth, NH; sister Kathleen (Bruce) Bitomski and nephew Jacob; sister Becky (Ron) Sanborn and niece Kayla; brother-in-law Matt (Erika) Jerram and nieces Allie and Maddie; his best friend, Bruce Dodds and family; and his Atlantic Heights family.
SERVICES – Relatives & Friends are invited to his Visitation on Saturday March 15, 2025, from 11:00 am – 12:00 pm at the J. Verne Wood Funeral Home - Buckminster Chapel, 84 Broad St., Portsmouth, NH. His Funeral Service will take place in the Funeral Home at 12-Noon with Navy Honors. Interment is private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Cornerstone VNA (https://cornerstonevna.org/donate/) or The Dr. Tom Clancy Research Fund at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.bwhgiving.org/memorial). For online condolences, visit: www.jvwoodfuneralhome.com