Melissa passed away peacefully at Watrous Hospital on June 13th at the age of 70 after a courageous battle against cancer.

Melissa grew up in Govan, the middle child of 3 sisters. The value of hard work was instilled in her early. She had a beautiful voice, and excelled at music. She sang at many weddings, and played the organ at church. She was also an excellent cook and taught us well. We will always remember that “cleaning up is a part of making something” and “if it smells good, it will taste good”. Melissa was extremely organized, and reminded us that “if you always put something in the same place, you never have to wonder where it is”. The motto “No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up” exemplifies how she lived her life.

Melissa was an active volunteer, and spent many hours working on the Music Festival Executive, Central Band Executive, and Kinettes. As a Kinette she held all the club executive positions, was Kinette Coordinator for the zone, received the Elspeth Rogers award, and was awarded the highest honor – a life membership in Nokomis Kin Club. She worked many hours at Telemiracle year after year. In more recent years, she and Ron were generous benefactors both locally and provincially, providing financial support for various projects including the purchase of a new Zamboni for Watrous Arena, the creation of Watrous Heritage Center, and the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital to name a few. In 2018, Melissa and Ron were named Watrous’ “Citizen of the Year”.

Melissa was a true entrepreneur. She had a long career at the Nokomis Credit Union while managing the books for the family farm and seed business, Beeler Seeds. Upon moving to Watrous she bought the local gift shop and Avril’s Cards and gifts was started. Melissa and Avril ran it for 16 years. Melissa always had an eye for fashion and a dream to have a lady’s clothing store which came to fruition with the opening of Fashions 2000. Many happy customers found the perfect outfit during her time in business. In the meantime, Ron and Melissa started Melron Service Ltd. From its’ humble beginning with just Ron and a backhoe it grew rapidly into the thriving business it is today. Melissa took pride in managing the accounting and her ledger was always balanced to the penny, right up until the end.

Melissa loved her family dearly and was so proud of all of them. She took great pride in watching her grandchildren and great grandchildren’s hockey or ball games, dance competitions, piano recitals or Christmas concerts and loved to be there cheering them on.

Melissa loved to play at the casino. She and Ron were regulars at the Dakota Dunes where they made many close friends who are like family to them. She and her girls would go to Edmonton or Las Vegas where they had a ton of fun and made many great memories.

Melissa is survived by her loving husband, Ron Ediger, daughters Avril (Brad) Reifferscheid, Shelley (Chuck) Turner, sons Jason (Gennifer) Ediger and Trent (Roxanne) Ediger, grand children Evan (Melanie Coward) Reifferscheid, Lauren (Basil) Edwards, Grayden (Jillisa) Turner, Preston, Audrey, Easton and Sophie Ediger, great grandchildren Cohen Reifferscheid, and Brady and Marley Edwards, sisters Pat Munro (Paul Allan), Terri (Ray) Hilderman, and many other relatives who will treasure their memories of this amazing lady.

She was predeceased by her parents, DC and Ellaline (Maber) Gerrand, her godparents Laurence and Frances (Golding) Van Luven, and her first husband Borden Beeler, as well as her in-laws, and many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Due to the restrictions imposed by COVID, a private family service will be held at Watrous United Church on Saturday June 20th. A celebration of Melissa’s life will be held for all who wish to attend once the restrictions have been lifted. For those so wishing, donations may be directed to Telemiracle/Kinsmen Foundation or a charity of your choice.