Denise Melroy:
Put in This World to Serve
Written By Jordan Rosenfeld
D
enise Melroy of Morgan Hill is the kind of volunteer
who would prefer that people didn’t put her in the
spotlight. Despite that, the spotlight finds her for
all the good work she has done in this community, from her
work with Community Solutions to feeding the homeless
through her church, and even her job as Recreation Program
Coordinator for the Morgan Hill Senior Center.
While most people might loudly proclaim their award
of Woman of the Year, which she received in 2009 for her
volunteer work, Melroy spoke almost in a whisper when
mentioning it.
“I don’t like to brag. That was an honor for me,” she told
TODAY. The honor came almost a year to the day her
father passed away, which felt appropriate, since she credits
her father for instilling the value of service to others in her.
“My dad owned his own business, and he’d come home
exhausted but yet I’d see him out there volunteering for some-
thing,” Melroy said. “I guess it was in my blood,” she offered
with a laugh.
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GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
The Tennessee native came to Morgan Hill with her
husband Owen in 1983, applying her math degree to her work
at the Stanford Research Institute. The Melroys raised two
daughters here, and today they are pursuing their own careers
in genetics and molecular biology.
As a stay-at-home mom in the years her girls were little,
Melroy still made time for volunteering, getting her start on the
Ways and Means Committee for Jackson Elementary School’s
Home and School Club. Over the years she has also put her
classical piano skills to use playing for her church.
She eventually worked her way up to the volunteer school
event she calls “the granddaddy of them all,” Live Oak High
School’s grad night, which she co-chaired for two years. She
credits another active Morgan Hill volunteer, Jennifer Tate,
wife of mayor Steve Tate, for pulling her into the annual
Community Solutions fundraising event, “Helping Hands,
Healing Hearts,” where she is part of the raffle committee.
“We just have the best time,” she said. “You wouldn’t think
that getting and coordinating donations is so much fun, but it is.”
MAY/JUNE 2017
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