He’s a mild-mannered retired schoolteacher from Brooklyn. Forget the “mild-mannered,” the rest of it is true. He is also the flotilla’s secret weapon in the constant effort to rack up more vessel examinations.
Mel graduated from Brooklyn High School of Automotive Trades and later went back to teach shop there for 35 years. In between he served in the Navy, worked as an auto mechanic, and earned degrees in education from City College of New York. His career path had some unusual detours, including summers spent as a guidance counselor at Riker’s Island Prison.
While working as an auto mechanic for a Ford dealership in the city, Mel got the job of road testing a sleek red 8-cylinder Thunderbird for Sammy Davis, Jr. When he pulled out of the shop onto the busy street, he found his eyes level with the hubcaps of a nearby bus. The view from the low-slung vehicle so unnerved him that he drove around the corner and went straight back to the shop.
Mel’s prowess as a vessel examiner came about by chance some years ago at Lover’s Key State Park, on a day when he was the only flotilla vessel examiner to turn up. An official from the auxiliary’s division level happened by and encouraged him to inspect the canoes the park offered to rent. The idea of considering canoes as vessels was a brand new initiative, and Mel jumped on it. He became an authority on canoe and kayak inspections, carefully completing a form for each of the ten or twenty (out of more than 100 rentals there) that he inspected every month. The routine is repeated every year.
While working at Lover’s Key, Mel built a nursery where he grew trees from seeds that were then transplanted to areas where melaleucca and Brazilian peppers had been removed. He and his wife, Jackie, have also been active there in the Turtle Time program, protecting turtle nests from depredation by animals and humans.
