Melvin Dean Sipes

It is with great sorrow that the family of Melvin Dean Sipes is sharing his passing on April 11, 2022. He was 86 years old.

Melvin was born August 31, 1935, in Forbes, Missouri and graduated from Oregon (Missouri) High School in 1953.

Enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in 1954, Melvin served in San Antonio, Texas, Hickam AFB, Hawaii and Clark Air Base in the Philippine Islands. He was a Korean War era and Vietnam veteran and served with distinction until his honorable discharge in 1964.

After moving his family to Hawthorne, Nevada in 1966, Melvin worked for the Nevada Department of Highways (NDOT). He attended the Reno Junior College of Business and graduated with an Associate of Arts in Business Administration. While in college, he was president of the Phi Beta Lambda Fraternity and went on to teach key-punch operation and business math. In the 1970s, Melvin worked as a District Manager at the Nevada State Journal-Reno Evening Gazette. He also worked for the Sparks Tribune during the 1980s.

In 1956, he married Loel Rae Armstrong (deceased) in Hawthorne. In 1977, he married Patricia Whitfield. Special thanks from the family to Meg, his companion until his passing.

He is survived by his children Les (Elaine) Sipes of Marysville, Washington; Brenda (Richard) Kishpaugh and Colleen (Ron) Winans of Reno, Nevada; Geneva (Michael) Martinkus of Washoe Valley, Nevada; stepson John (Marjo) Whitfield of Texas; and 17 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his adopted children Evelyn Remmerde, Richard Sipes and Randall Sipes, and four brothers and two sisters.

Melvin enjoyed golf, fishing, hunting, softball, railroading and, while in the military, he coached the Air Force basketball team to a conference championship.

Melvin will be missed for his humor, wit and charisma. He was loved by all who knew him.

"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. . . . Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord." – 2 Corinthians 5:1 and 6-8 (NIV)

Graveside services and inurnment: Saturday, June 11, 2022, 11:00 am, Forbes Cemetery.