Melissa Adele Mills Melendez passed away peacefully at home in Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico on June 3, 2019, just shy of her 98th birthday. Born in Mashpee, she was the daughter of the late Louis and Melissa (Coombs) Mills. She was married to Ernest Furey and lived in Boston with her two children, Marcella Furey of Mashpee, MA and Allen Furey of Annapolis, MD.
Melissa was an elder of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and worked as a nurse after receiving her credentials in California where she briefly lived. Her love for Mashpee brought her home where she worked at Cape Cod Hospital’s nursery welcoming newborns for over thirty years. An excellent cook and seamstress, Melissa often made clothing by hand. She loved to travel and visited Hawaii, Bermuda and Puerto Rico where she lived for over twenty years with her husband Felix Melendez.
In addition to caring for babies, Melissa had a green thumb and could nurse any plant to thriving health. She was a devoted Boston Red Sox fan and would never receive phone calls during a game.
Her two loving children Marcella and Allen Furey and her stepson Renaldo Melendez survive Melissa and she is predeceased by her siblings Richard “Huck” Mills, Alice J. Hicks and William “Billy” Mills, her stepson Leonardo Melendez, her granddaughter Tasha Roberts and her grandson Marcellus Furey. She leaves her grandchildren Kevin Roberts, Allen Furey, Jr., Quinten Furey, and Maritza Melendez, five great grandchildren, as well as a host of cousins, nieces and nephews. She was buried in Puerto Rico. A memorial service will be held in Mashpee in the near future.
