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Melvin Lee Elzea, age 84, of Galveston, Texas by way of Tulsa, Oklahoma and formerly of Quincy, Illinois died suddenly on Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at his home on Galveston Island.

Mel was born in Vandalia, Missouri on January 10, 1936. He was the son of George Clark and Mable Frances Owen Elzea. On June 4, 1955, Mel had been married to Nancy Lee Poore.

Mel's journey began with a quick confidence instilled in him by his mother who had been a single room elementary school teacher. He excelled at playing trumpet in the band and basketball in athletics at Bowling Green High School in Bowling Green, MO.

In 1953 as the Federal Communications Commission allowed television stations to be built again after World War II, Mel's passion was instantly ignited by the new world of television. That year at age 17, Mel won a job in the studio of WGEM-TV in Quincy, IL.

While working at WGEM he expanded his talents to other areas of the broadcast media and started a friendship with the station's Chief Engineer, Frank E. Laughlin. The synergy of the two pioneered ground breaking creativity and boundary pushing engineering excellence to communications, radio, TV and the newly hatched Cable TV industry.

Their partnership firsts include being the first regional intercom and sound company, Closed Circuit Communications of Quincy. 3C was the first independent vendor to interconnect private phone systems to all three major telephone companies in the USA. Mel tasked himself with renaming the tri-state area to Great River Country after working with the Great River Road Commission. The partners built a twenty-four hour Class C FM station. KGRC signed on Thanksgiving Day 1968. Great River Country landmark noting jingles, contests and events came to excite community spirit, fun and listenership. This included the Mark Twain inspired frog jumping and raft racing contests in Hannibal, Missouri to promote Mississippi River heritage. These were among Mel's realized dreams.

Mel was a member of the Quincy Jaycees and helped develop many community activities. The Quincy Chamber of Commerce Dogwood Festival bloomed under his direction along with the IKF Grand Prix of Karting in Quincy's South Park. The Illinois Jaycees honored Mel as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men Award winners in 1971.

The radio station pioneered the 70's nostalgic reboot of the 1950s just ahead of American Graffiti and Happy Days with oldies segment blocks and sock hop dance DJ appearances. When the Barking Spiders first greased up in 1973 for a QHS Junior-Senior Reception floor show, Mel immediately put his son Greg and friends to work at the KGRC Hops. The show must go on. He then organized the Spidettes with his daughter Melissa and her fellow QHS cheerleaders.

Mel turned attentions to television in the early days of cable TV. He produced locally originated entertainment, sports and event programming in creating Cable 8 TV in Quincy. This brought into existence Teleproductions Unlimited in 1977. The partnership's remote video production truck supported live and recorded programming for the channel. It soon expanded to other cable systems, television stations and networks. Operations were moved to Tulsa in 1979. Frank engineered the ever-evolving remote unit and Mel managed the growing productions to national proportions. Producing programs for KOLR, KFSM, KARK, KOCO, KWCH, Griffin Broadcasting, Tulsa Cable, Illini Sports Network, Kansas Broadcasting System, Prime Network, and ESPN to mention a few. TU produced a National Christmas Eve Service for the Disciples of Christ that appeared on NBC. Partnership sons, Greg Elzea and the late Gary Lee Laughlin supported operations, development and productions until 2003 when TU closed.

Before we fade to black, a memorial service in Tulsa, OK will be planned in the near future.

Mel enjoyed gardening, boating, writing, traveling and entertaining.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brother Horton Owen Elzea.

He is survived by the his sons Gregory Lee (Laurie) of Bentonville, AR; Jeffrey Lee (Karen) of Tulsa, OK; daughters Melissa Lee (Jeff) Oberling of Tulsa, OK and Melinda Lee (Tim) Nelson of Galveston Island, TX; grandchildren Tiffany Elzea; Stephanie Elzea of McKinney, TX; Michael (Vivian) Oberling of Irvine, CA; Dylan (Jill) Oberling of Quincy, IL; Zachary Elzea of Tulsa, OK; Blake Becks of Galveston Island, TX; step-grandson Grayson Nelson (Kayla) of St. Peters, MO; great-granddaughters Willow Way Becks, Sloane Thuy Oberling and step-great-grandson Declan Wyatt Nelson.

Mel brought us along on grand adventures and had wondrous tales to tell.

Cheers!