Edward Innis Melton Jr.

Edward “Bud” Innis Melton Jr., M.D. was born October 18, 1945, to Edward and Winifred Melton in Birmingham, Alabama. Bud embarked on the next adventure of his life to meet his Creator on July 15, 2026, after a protracted illness and is survived by Jeanette, his wife of 36 years (plus a long courtship!), and sister, Connie Cobb, brother-in-law, Joe Cobb, nephews, Edward and Lewis Cobb and multiple nephews-in-law plus their progeny.

His father was a career Army officer, so their travels were extensive. The family lived in Germany, France, Alabama, Kentucky, Utah, Illinois and California before L/C Melton retired.

Bud attended college at the University of California at Davis and at the University of Alabama, first in Tuscaloosa, then in Birmingham, graduating with bachelor's and M.D. degrees. He took his internship at the same hospital in which he was born. He joined the USAF and was assigned to Brooks AFB in San Antonio to attend Aviation Medicine School, then served as a flight surgeon at several installations including Eglin AFB, FL, Udorn RTAF Base, Thailand and Johnson AFB, Japan. When he separated from the service, Dr. Melton entered the practice of Emergency Medicine at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center in Fort Walton Beach, Florida where he became board certified, Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine and Director of Paramedic Education at Northwest Florida State College. During this time in the Florida Panhandle, Bud enjoyed SCUBA diving, hunting, fishing, sailing and building things (he had quite an extensive workshop.) Jeanette and he married in 1990, honeymooning in Bermuda, after which they returned to their home on the bayou to continue experiencing their blessed life together. Bud shifted his medical practice to Urgent Care and Family Practice in 1992 through 2008 with some sabbatical work in Colorado in '98-'08. Jeanette and Bud built a cabin in the mountains of Colorado in 1994 for vacation use and when they retired in 2008, expanded that cabin into a home. Jeanette and Bud traveled extensively, visiting England, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Canada, Mexico and Italy at various times and embarked on excursions to the Middle East, including Israel, Jordan (they were baptized again in the Jordan River!), and the Mediterranean Sea. Cruise ships took them to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii. Their hiking highlights, along with many other shorter trips, included a week in the Escalante Grand Staircase and multiple other parks and sites in Utah and New Mexico, "Rim-to-Rim" across the Grand Canyon (four days of hiking and camping), ten of the 14000 ft. peaks in Colorado, and, of course, they downhill skied at many places in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Montana. Intolerance to Colorado altitude and advancing age obliged Jeanette and Bud to reluctantly plan a return to the Florida Panhandle in 2026.

Visitation and Celebration of Life will be held at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home in Niceville, Florida on Friday, July 31, 2026 at 11:00AM.

Please keep the Melton Family in your thoughts and prayers.

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