The founder of a house painting business who ‘made friends with everyone’ collapsed and died after a workout Monday.
Melanie Creamer
Melanie Creamer is a news assistant, who's worked at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram for nearly 16 years. She oversees various responsibilities from monitoring the news and business email addresses – to fetching old newspaper articles and photos from the archive.
She’s the face behind the popular business “On the Move” column, which appears in Tuesdays and Thursdays newspapers.
A compassionate and soft-spoken woman, Melanie is also the writer of the newspaper’s feature obituary. Many of her colleagues say she has one of the toughest jobs in the newsroom. She tells heart-breaking stories of love and loss. She listens as parents sob uncontrollably over the tragic death of their child. She writes touching stories about couples who have been married for 60 plus years, and then die within days or weeks from each other.
Melanie was the recipient of the Maine Press Association’s Unsung Hero Award in 2015.
A native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, she graduated from Fitchburg State College in 2000 with a degree in professional writing. She lives in Scarborough with her fiancée and is a co-parent to two daughters.
Posted inFeature Obituary
Feature obituary: Jacob Brown, 21, USM nursing student, standout South Portland High athlete
He is remembered as a humble, smart, funny guy who had a profound impact on others during his short life.
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Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State
Feature obituary: Judith Jane Slocum VanDerburgh, 88, former nurse and longtime volunteer
She delivered meals to homebound older people for 30 years and is remembered as a kind, selfless woman who devoted her life to family and the communities she lived in.
Posted inFeature Obituary
Feature obituary: Thomas Wirth, nationally recognized landscape architect, 76
Mr. Wirth made regular appearances on PBS television shows such as ‘This Old House’ and The Victory Garden.’
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State
Feature obituary: Priscilla Krasnow, Portland school volunteer known as ‘Mama K,’ dies at 92
Ms. Krasnow, known to students as ‘Mama K.,’ volunteered at Portland Arts and Technology High School for three years.
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State, News
Feature obituary: Nancy Grape, 84, former Portland Press Herald editorial writer and columnist
Mrs. Grape was raised in Auburn, worked for the Portland Newspapers from 1982 through 1997, and continued to contribute columns and book reviews for years afterward.
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State
Ryan Greenlaw, 37, big-hearted man who ‘loved his girls more than life’
Family and friends say the Biddeford man, who died of a suspected heroin overdose, went out of his way to please the people around him.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Peggy Osher, philanthropist and community supporter who generously shared her love of art, dies at 88
She and her husband were major backers of the Portland Museum of Art, donating hundreds of works to the museum and schools, and have a map library at USM named after them.
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State, News, Schools and Education
Feature obituary: Edward Kaelber, 94, founding president of College of the Atlantic
He lived in Bar Harbor for more than four decades.
Posted inFeature Obituary, Local & State
Beloved Biddeford school employee played all-around role for sports programs
When Joseph Fairfield, 62, wasn’t preparing fields, announcing games, running scoreboards and transporting athletes, he was leading cheers from the stands.