Mark Aldridge Melton

Mark was born November 2, 1930 in Norman, OK to Frank Armon and Clarice (Aldridge)

Melton.

Mark earned his undergraduate degree in Geomorphology and Physics in 1952 from the

University of Oklahoma. Mark was a Fraternity Brother of Kappa Alpha and was BMOC

his graduating year. He went on to study Geology at Yale, and eventually Columbia

University, where he received his Ph.D in Meteorology and Climatology in 1957. He

was a lifelong member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.

Dr. Melton taught at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, the University

of Chicago, UCLA, and the University of Arizona, Tucson. Dr. Melton’s classrooms

were not confined to buildings; he had students come from all over the world to study

under him and he spent many summers in the deserts and mountains of the West

teaching his field students.

Mark’s passion for geology went much further than academia--he was able to capture

spectacular geological formations and landscapes in photographs which are displayed

not only throughout his home but used in geology textbooks.

Mark loved backpacking, technical climbing, and fly fishing, and in his younger years he

spent many of his summers scaling the peaks and angling for trout in Colorado,

Wyoming, and New Mexico.

He was a man of many talents and interests, from woodworking, gunsmithing, and

home brewing, to linguistics and prehistory. Mark was a master piper, and was well

known for his bagpipes bellowing his arrival at any given place, public or private, day or

night.

Mark was preceded in death by his parents and his sisters Mary Jane Wilder (San

Francisco) and Phyllis Melton Dowling (Norman) and his former wife Sara Melton of

Santa Fe, NM.

Dr. Melton is survived by his loving wife Glenace L. Melton, his daughters Kerry Melton,

Gale Walker Melton (Erik), and Mara Melton, his grandsons Matthew Aldridge Melton

(Megan), Christopher Allan Gaulding, and William Alden Walker, and his greatgrandchildren

Devon Nicholas Melton and Chloe Louise Gaulding (Samantha Gaulding).

In appreciation for the love of the mountains instilled in him as a summer camper in the

Rockies, donations in lieu of flowers are requested to the Cheley Foundation:

https://www.cheleyfoundation.org/donate/

A private memorial will be held in his honor.