The IJN family was always delighted to have Gen Mellman in our midst. Her gaze, so level and discerning, accepted us all with gentle equanimity. A highly intelligent woman, Gen never set herself above anyone else. She was simply one of us. Married to IJN Sports Editor Jerry Mellman for 60 years, she wasn’t a tangential piece of our familial pie. She was the quintessential sweetness at the center.
Gen Mellman died April 30, 2013. Leaving this world is a given. What we do with those myriad moments in between is a choice. Gen Mellman chose wisely — and we have all benefited from her wisdom.
Born in Guatemala, where her parents immigrated in the 1920s, Gen arrived in Denver at age 10 to receive a solid education. She stayed with relatives Tee and Hy Brown and visited her parents in Guatemala every summer until she was 17.
Right after high school, Genevieve Mendelsohn went on a blind date with Gerald Mellman, an idealistic young man with a heart of gold. They were married in 1952, raised four very accomplished children and doted on their many grandchildren and a great-grandson. Fluent in Spanish, Gen returned to college in 1979 and earned degrees in international marketing and management from Metro.
She worked as a valued interpreter in the federal and county courts, eliciting praise from judges and lawyers alike, and ran her own business providing interpretative services. Gen took the nuts and bolts of interpreting beyond mere verbal translation. She applied it to the whole person, catching every emotional nuance.
After retiring, she threw herself into adult education classes at OLLI, became computer savvy, played golf and bridge and volunteered in the community. Gen and Jerry loved traveling. But they loved returning home to their family even more. Family was Gen’s rock, and she was theirs. We pray for their healing, over time.
Some people are so present in life that even death can’t fully erase them. Gen Mellman was one of those people. Despite the painful loss of this gracious and lovely woman, we sense her everywhere. That was her gift to us. Loving life to the fullest is our gift to her.
Copyright © 2013 by the Intermountain Jewish News
