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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.

Latest
  • Published
    September 23, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Buddy Reid, 19, athlete, ‘kind soul’ with passion for music

    SCARBOROUGH – Members of the Scarborough boys’ soccer team wore white T-shirts Wednesday bearing the words “Buddy #10” to pay tribute to Buddy Reid, a former standout athlete at Scarborough High School who died unexpectedly Monday. He was 19. “It’s a tremendous tribute to him,” his father, Bill Reid, said Thursday. “Many of the kids […]

  • Published
    September 21, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Joseph Bryant, 80, retired Brunswick High principal, counselor

    BRUNSWICK – Joseph Bryant, a popular and dedicated guidance counselor and principal at Brunswick High School, who paved the way for hundreds of students to receive a post-secondary education, died on Sunday. He was 80. Mr. Bryant began his career in education as an English teacher at Caribou High School around 1953. A few years […]

  • Published
    September 16, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Grace DiBiase, 88, loved spending time with her family

    PORTLAND – Grace DiBiase was remembered by her sons Thursday as a strong, traditional Italian woman who was fiercely devoted to her family and loved cooking large Sunday dinners. The menu was strictly Italian: spaghetti, manicotti, ravioli — anything Italian. “I would wake up Sunday morning and smell the meatballs cooking,” said her son Danny […]

  • Published
    September 15, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Anthony DiBiase Sr., 84; respected in business, loved by family

    WESTBROOK- Anthony DiBiase Sr. was a well-respected Portland businessman, who owned and operated an auto body shop on Warren Avenue for many years and at one time was responsible for fixing the city’s vehicles. Though he had a long and successful career, nothing made him feel better than being with his family and taking care […]

  • Published
    September 14, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Allen ‘Mike’ Brown, 81, longtime National Fisherman columnist

    He was a longtime writer and editor for The Republican Journal in Belfast.

  • Published
    September 13, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Fernand Bernier Sr., 91, accomplished self-taught machinist

    BIDDEFORD — Fernand Bernier Sr. was a self-taught machinist who dedicated his life to mastering the art of making tools and dies in machine shops across southern Maine. “He liked the creativity and the exactness of the pieces he made,” said his son, Fernand “Joe” Bernier Jr. of Dayton. “He knew all of his decimal […]

  • Published
    September 3, 2011

    Feature obituary: Rena Thorndike, 86, retired teacher at Thornton, beloved aunt

    SCARBOROUGH – Rena Thorndike, a retired English teacher at Thornton Academy who was active in the Blue Point Congregational Church in Scarborough, died on Aug. 15. She was 86. Ms. Thorndike began her career in 1959 as a physical education teacher and guidance counselor at Windham High School. She taught briefly in Windham, then at […]

  • Published
    September 2, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Shannon Paul, 29, embraced life and loved unconditionally

    RINGGOLD, Va. – Judging from the pictures of Shannon Paul’s five young children on her Facebook page, she was a dedicated mother who enjoyed making her kids smile and laugh and brought joy to their hearts. “Each child was special to her in their own little way,” said her mother, Martha Kunze of Kailing, Va. […]

  • Published
    August 31, 2011

    Feature Obituary: Timothy Flaherty, 63, can-do firefighter and warm family man

    YARMOUTH — Timothy Flaherty, a dedicated firefighter who served 33 years with the Portland Fire Department, died early Tuesday after a long, valiant fight with cancer. He was 63. Mr. Flaherty joined the department in 1972 as a firefighter. He was promoted to a lieutenant in 1978 and spent most of his career with Portland’s […]

  • Published
    August 30, 2011

    Feature Obituary: A. LeRoy Greason Jr., 88, Bowdoin College professor, leader

    BRUNSWICK — A. LeRoy Greason Jr., a well-respected educator and leader who served as a professor, dean and president in his 38 years at Bowdoin College, died on Sunday. He was 88. Mr. Greason joined the staff at Bowdoin in 1952 as an English instructor with a specialty in 18th-century English literature. He was named […]