Melinda Melton-Curtis

Melinda Melton-Curtis, of Moscow died Tuesday, July 14, 2026, at her home in Moscow. She was 81.

Melinda was born in 1945 to Melvin, and Lena Melton in Long Beach, Calif. She moved to Salmon, Idaho in 1953 to a small cabin on a homestead that included Williams Lake. It was quite a change with no running water and an outdoor toilet. And fording the river by horseback to go to school, as there was no bridge close to get across to go to salmon. Soon, they developed the resort at the lake.

Melinda went back to California for the first years with her parents, for the winter and to go to school. When she started high school, she boarded with neighbors while her parents guided hunts in Mexico. She met her first husband, Val, in high school, and they were married in 1963. Their first son, Rodney, was born in September that year.

After high school, they both worked at the resort with Val, working at guiding and keeping the boats all in repair to rent, and Melinda ran the Red Dog saloon and helped her mother at the resort. They had Marlo, their daughter, in 1966, and we're traveling back and forth to Mexico and back to Williams Lake.

Her parents had places that they owned in Mexico to hunt in Navajoa and Puerto Vallarta. Dewey was born in November of 1970, and in 1973, the marriage ended, and Melinda moved back to Mexico with the children where they were put in school for a little while.

In 1975, Melinda went to work as the bar manager of the Holiday Inn in Sun Valley. The kids all enjoyed life back in Idaho and really enjoyed the free ski passes. Not long after that, she met her second husband, Royal Donahue. They dated for a few years, and were married in 1977 in Las Vegas. They moved several times, living in different areas for jobs that Royal took.

They moved to Moscow in 1979, where Royal worked at the Best Western, and Melinda worked at the Chamber of Commerce. Melinda wanted a smaller school so the kids could all play sports. So they moved to Troy, and then on to Robinson Lake Road. All of her children finished school in Troy.

Melinda divorced Royal in 1985, and went to work for Beth Kenworthy. Beth soon made her the manager of her bar called the Mirage.

In the fall of 1985, she met Michael, and they were soon dating, and moved in together in 1986. They worked several different part time jobs, and nothing was too menial. Cleaning several local businesses, selling specialty foods for land and sea group. Changing air fresheners in commercial restrooms and opening an exercise studio. Their big break came when they bought the Corner Club in 1991. After a few years in 1996, they were married in La Quinta, Calif., at PGA West. They saved their money, and paid off the Goetz family in 1998. Melinda and Mike had several golf adventures, including most of the Monterey Peninsula.

They had decided early that they wanted to travel, so in 2007, sold the Corner Club, and started trekking the world. Six of the seven continents and most of the wonders of the world were seen. They bought a park model in Arizona in 2007, then a house in 2010, in Gold Canyon, Ariz., spending six months there and six months in Moscow.

In 2020, Melinda was blindsided with stage 4 lymphoma. Being the fighter she was, she did whatever treatment needed to get it. She had a few years of remission, but in 2024, it came back. No matter she fought to the end, asking for the doctor to see if anything could be done, even to the day she died.

She is survived by her children, Rod (Bonnie) Whiting. Marlo (Corey) Anderson, Dewey (Nicole) Whiting; grandchildren, Shane Staton, Carson Whiting, Desi Whiting, Kyle Whiting, Alyssa Whiting; and eight great-grandchildren. Her sister, Sandy, nephew, Chuck (Heather) and their children Zach, and Mandy.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the Vandal Scholarship Fund, or the University of Idaho in her name, or to the local humane society in Moscow.

A celebration of life is planned for Melinda from 3-8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Latah County Fairgrounds in Moscow. We’d like to invite all our friends and family to enjoy this event with us.