It is with great sadness that the family of Melvin Alexander Burt announce the passing of their beloved Uncle on Saturday, January 13th, 2024 at Lakeside Homes in Gander after a brief illness at the age of 96.

Leaving to mourn nieces Flora Doyle (nee Burt) and great-niece Penny of St. John's and Elizabeth Maga (nee Burt) and husband Mihai, great-nephew Sebastian and great-niece Sydney of Whitby, Ontario as well as a large circle of wonderful friends.

Pre-deceased by his father, Cecil Burt and mother Minnie Burt (nee Manuel), brother William (Bill) Burt (and sister-in-law Marie), sisters Nellie Eveleigh (and brother-in-law Baxter) and Daisy Jewer (and brother-in-law Jack).

Uncle Melvin was known for being kind, funny and immensely proud of his hometown of Botwood. He would often recount meeting Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne in the summer of 1933 as a 5 year-old boy, with his little brother Billy (my father) by his side, and he was mesmerized by the amazing "flying boat" he saw in the harbour that day. This began his life-long love of aviation and history, particularly the history of his famous hometown.

He began his working life after he left school in Grade 9 at the age of 14 to work at E.G.M. Cape and Co., a local building company at the time from Montreal, as a "messenger boy" running errands for the Supervisors and making trips to the post office. He later took a position at British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and worked there up until the airline moved its operations to Gander in 1945.

It was during his early days at British Airways that he met Winston Churchill who took an instant liking to him when he was entrusted to deliver an important message in an envelope to Prime Minister Churchill and was told that he had to put it in Winston Churchill's hands to be sure he received it. Well of course when he arrived his security detail was having nothing of it and would not allow him in to see him. But Uncle Melvin was adamant that he was NOT leaving until he delivered the envelope to him. Hearing the commotion outside the door Winston Churchill asked what was going on. The guards said a young man wanted to see him to deliver something to which he said "What have you got there young laddie?" Uncle Melvin replied "I have a very important letter for you, Sir, and I was told I must deliver it only to you". Winston Churchill said "Well come on in then!" After Uncle Melvin gave him the envelope he thanked him for being so persistent, took out his wallet and gave him a whole dollar and asked him to be his personal "messenger" while he was in Botwood! Thus also began Uncle Melvin's life-long admiration for Winston Churchill.

From British Airways he went on to the A.N.D. Company for a number of years and then off to Ontario, then St. John's for a time, but he always knew that Botwood was his true home. After his return to Botwood from St. John's he spent the remainder of his working life caring for his aging parents.

Uncle Melvin was adamantly devoted to his family and my cousin Flora and I often speak of how fortunate we were to grow up in such a wonderful, caring family and Uncle Melvin was certainly a huge part of that. I have such fond memories of him during my idyllic childhood growing up across the road from him in Botwood, whether it was collecting sea glass from the beach, our walks to Wong's in the summertime to get a twirly or blueberry-picking on Blueberry Hill (and truthfully just sitting beside him wherever he was and eating the freshly-picked blueberries from his recycled white salt meat tub!). Or the hours spent reading history books with him, drawing and colouring planes or boats and playing horseshoes with him and Poppy in their basement when the weather just wasn't fit to be outside.

He was kind, loving and generous and I never once ever heard him complain about anything.

Flora and I would like to say a huge thank-you to the amazing staff and volunteers at Lakeside Homes in Gander for their incredible care and love for Uncle Melvin over the past seven years. He rarely ever missed a recreation activity or a church service of any denomination and he often "cleaned-up" at his favourite activities… trivia, jeopardy, bingo and bowling!

During his time there he was often sought out to be the "face" of Lakeside Homes, often seen in the news, whether being the first senior to receive his COVID shot in the region, highlighting the new nursing home that was being built while he was at Lakeside or tirelessly fundraising for a new accessible bus for outings for the residents. He led a happy and full life at Lakeside Homes because of the wonderful staff and volunteers. Everyone knew him there… staff, volunteers and visitors alike, and they loved him to the moon and back!

We are also forever grateful to his closest friends, Eva Studholme and Diane Edgar of Gander, for visiting him and helping take care of him every day leading up to his passing and for being with him, providing comfort, conversation, loving words and kisses on his cheeks and forehead, in his final moments as he left our world.

Our sincerest gratitude also goes out to Lisa Hemeon from the Town of Botwood, for her chats and visits with Uncle Melvin to help fill in the gaps of our incredible local history once thought lost and for her tremendous hard work on the display at the Botwood Heritage Centre honouring our great-Uncle Arthur Manuel's service in WWI which includes our family's most treasured possession, a wooden serving tray hand-carved by Uncle Art during the war which he made as a gift for Uncle Melvin's mother and our grandmother, Minnie Burt. He absolutely loved his "VIP" visit to the Museum last year and Lisa, along with his friend Eva, made it all possible.

And finally, to Bryan Davies, author of the book A Boy from Botwood, a heartfelt thank-you for your facetime calls with Uncle Melvin for the background research for the forthcoming edition of A Boy from Botwood. Uncle Melvin was able to provide details that no one else in the world knew and you were able to ask him the perfect questions. Our family will always be indebted to you for bringing our Uncle Art's fascinating story to the world.

Visitation will be held at Botwood Funeral Home, 147 Commonwealth Drive, on Wednesday, January 17th from 11:00am - 1:00pm with a short service afterwards at the funeral home beginning at 1:00pm officiated by Rev. James Martin-Carter from the Trinity United Church in Botwood.

Interment to follow at the United Church cemetery.

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Recreation Department at Lakeside Homes in Gander.

A celebration of Uncle Melvin's life will be held in the late spring/early summer.

Now this is not the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Winston Churchill

Funeral arrangements entrusted to Botwood Funeral Home, 147 Commonwealth Drive, Botwood, NL.