Brendan David Melendez, 20

Dear loving son Brendan David Melendez, 20, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on Aug. 2, 1994, and suddenly left this world on July 9, 2015 in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho.

A memorial service was held at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, July 14th, at the Kroc Center, 1765 Golf Course Road in Coeur d’Alene.

Brendan was an extremely sensitive, thoughtful young man who was respectful and deeply concerned about the injustices of poverty, racism, materialism, and the pollution that is choking our earth. He was never arrogant or a bully, he just wanted to blend into the crowd and be treated fairly while having fun.

Brendan developed a real love for the outdoors when we lived in Bonners Ferry from 2000-2005. The family had moved from Salt Lake to Bonners Ferry in 2000 when he was six years old to provide on site radiology services to Boundary County.

Brendan from the first days in Bonners loved building bonfires and fishing on the Kootenai River. He eventually became a real marksman with BB and pellet guns, which he continued to enjoy into his adulthood.

He was extremely patriotic and had high hopes of serving in the U.S. military as a Marine. Being a Marine was his life dream. He studied military history to the extent that he was a real authority of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. HIs family told him that he would be an excellent military analyst with his in-depth knowledge of winning strategies and the mistakes of past wars. He would put most adults to shame with his broad knowledge of military history that occurred many years before he was born.

Brendan excelled in school, not because of his God-given talent, but because he would spend hours to master the subject at hand. He developed a writing style and expertise that most students would love to have; of course, this came after many hours of revision after revision.

He graduated from Coeur d Alene High School in 2012 with honors and attended Spokane Community College and Eastern Washington University. In college he continued to be a dedicated student who had little time for extracurricular stuff because he wanted to learn and to prove to himself and his family of how hard he was working.

After high school Brendan became a real fan of major league baseball and was a dedicated fan of the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners. They family went last year to see game four of the World Series games and he was so excited to be a wild crazy Giants fan rooting as they defeated the Kansas City Royals. He would listen to the games on satellite radio as he studied and would keep us up to date on the league standings.

Brendan became a lifeguard at the Kroc Center in Coeur d Alene in 2012 and continued to work part-time up to the time of his death. He was proud to be a Kroc lifeguard and felt a real loyalty to the center. The people at the Kroc treated Brendan with great respect and he told his family many times of how he liked working there.

So where does his family go from here? They cherish the days they had with him and thank the Lord for having given them such an incredible son. He made them better people.

The surviving members of his family are his father Michael; his mother Polly; brothers Cooper Darling (Kaitlin), and Alexander; and sister Mercedes; as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and maternal grandparents who also survive him.

His family is very thankful to all of those friends and family who have given them emotional and spiritual support during these tearful days of grieving.

English Funeral Chapel has been entrusted to handle final arrangements. Please visit Brendan’s online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.