Photo sent by Dan Mellon
Roland Mellon, Diana Mellon Martin, Russell J. Martin on the occasion of Roland and Marcella's 50th anniversary in 1995.

About Diana (Mellon) (Kendall) Martin
(See also Bulletin #51 here.)

To start, my name is Diana Lee (Mellon) (Kendall) Martin. My brother Roland and I were born to Everett and Daisy Mellon, Roland being my older brother. Both my parents, as well as Roland and his wife, Marcella, are now deceased. [Russell J. Martin died August 28, 2005. Diana passed away May 3, 2007; the funeral was on May 7, 2007. Her nephew Dan Mellon wrote a remembrance.]


Diana, at age 1, with her favorite doll, left; with her parents, Daisy & Everett Mellon, and her brother, Rolly, in 1944, right.

Roland, being older, was already in the Army Air Corps when my folks and I moved to Robbinsdale, where I lived until I married Fred Kendall on October 19, 1956, and where my father lived until he passed away on September 13, 1983. He and mother were divorced in 1953, and both re-married.

Fred and I had three daughters ... Maralee Jo, 1957; Brenda Louise, 1958; and Julianna Joy, 1962. We divorced in 1974, and, in the early spring of 1975, I "re-met" Russell J. Martin, who I had been good friends with and dated some during high school. We married in August 1976, making our family my three daughters and Russ' six children ... most were at the very least young teens, and my oldest, Maralee, married with a small family of her own by that time.

Russ and I, along with a smattering of our kids, then moved to Pelican Rapids, where Russ and I planned, built and ran a Supper Club for a local businessman, until May of 1977, when I fell and suffered a serious leg injury, requiring an extended hospitalization and in-home care. This made it necessary to move back to Minneapolis, where Russ' folks opened their home and hearts to us until I healed, and could live on my own again.

In September of 1977, we moved into our little house in Camden ... North Minneapolis ... where we lived for the next 10 years. Then we sold the house and traveled for almost 2 years, working off and on on the road during that time, until returning to Minnesota in l989, and living in Robbinsdale (where it all started! haha) until March 2000, when we moved to a tiny town called Brook Park, 12 miles northeast of Mora, where we reside today.

For all of Russ' adult life, until moving here, he worked in Food Service, his last position being Food Director for nine years at Copperfield Hill Senior Apartments. At age 42, I went back to school, gaining my Chemical Dependency Counselor certificate, and a year later, my Minnesota Certification in the same field. I worked at Fairview Deaconess Hospital C.D. program in the Evaluation Unit for adolescents. My main job was public speaking, family counseling, and interventions, as well as group leader. I remained there until Russ and I began traveling full time, but did go back for one summer, when asked if I could fill in for awhile.

Then in 1993, after a couple of shorter jobs as front desk/receptionist, I was hired to be the kitchen office manager, also at Copperfield, where I worked for six years, until we moved here. I retired after moving here, but Russ continues his self-employment as a scissor and knife sharpener, two to three days a week, mostly at the Jo-Ann Fabric stores in the Minnesota area, as well as several Ben Franklin stores in the state and Wisconsin, also.

We have 12 grandchildren and three (and 1/2) great-grand children.

Our favorite pastimes are renovating our little place, which when we bought it was nothing more than a hunters' shack with holes in the roof and floor, with absolutely no updates or improvements whatsoever. Just an empty shell, barely standing, but on five acres of land, in the woods, with a large bog at the front edge of our property.

I doubt if our work will ever be done, but we keep plugging away at it, hoping to landscape and improve the yard this year ... finally!

But, our true love is camping and traveling ... We now have a Pleasure Way camper van, which is good on gas, and drives like a car, but is way too small for extended trips, especially with three little house dogs that go everywhere we go ... so, it is my dream to one day have a larger class "A" or "C" motorhome, but ... we aren't rich, and those beautiful monsters are expensive, so we take shorter trips in our van, and are grateful for what we have.

Our kids are far afield from us, living all over the united states, but we are fortunate to have some still in Minnesota and as close as the Twin Cities, so we do get to see some of them as often as possible. Thank-goodness for e-mail!

I love quilting, woodburning, old movies, and watching the beautiful birds at our bird feeders. What an assortment we have here! A family of Pileated Woodpeckers have taken up residence, and are so much fun to watch, but boy are they ever territorial! They divebomb us when we're out in the yard, as I am sure they think we're invading their space!

Although we both enjoy fishing, we haven't been out for several years now, but hope to get out this summer, again.

Russ' passion is reading and he loves clock making. He did take a clock repair class at one time, but nothing serious ever came of it. I think he took it out of curiosity, mostly. He loves to garden, but really struggles with our clay and rock to get much to grow, except weeds of course! He loves woodworking, also, and did all the woodworking projects in our house himself.

Well, I think that's it in a nutshell. We feel so blessed to be even a small part of such a delightful family such as the Dakes, Andersons, Mellons et al., and so enjoy reading The Bulletin as a way to keep up with all the family activities.

Thank you so very, very much, Dorothy.

Diana


Daisy and Everett Mellon

This is the only picture I have of Aunt Daisy and Uncle Everett Mellon. It was taken on their 25th wedding anniversary. In the background you see their home in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. The little girl in the doorway is Diana (Mellon) Martin. It was an open house for the couple and I do remember thinking how handsome a couple they made, this only brother of my mother Amy (Mellon) Dake and his wife Daisy (Williams) Mellon. --DMA