With heavy hearts, we announce the passing of our beloved mother, grandmother, and great grandmother; Donna Lee Horlocker Mellott. She passed away surrounded by family at the Crook County Hospital in Sundance, Wyoming on February 2, 2025.
Donna was born to George and Hazel (Dungan) Horlocker on August 20, 1935, in Wakonda, South Dakota; the youngest of three girls. The family moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1937 for her father’s health, where Donna attended her first 3 ½ years of school. In 1944 Donna and her family joined the First Southern Baptist church there. January 1,1947 found them moving to Sundance. They moved to Moorcroft, Wyoming in 1949 where Donna graduated from Moorcroft High School as salutatorian of her class of 1953. She attended Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana for one year. She met Melvin Mellott the summer of 1954 and they were married September 20,1954 in Rapid City, South Dakota at the Presbyterian Church. They flew to New York City and Niagara Falls for their honeymoon. Upon returning they moved to the Mellott ranch north of Moorcroft. This was Donna’ s first experience at ranch life, it was a very different way of life for a town girl, but she loved it. In 1965 the family decided they would like a change and moved to Bigfork, Montana. They returned to the ranch in 1968, where they stayed until they retired. They sold the ranch and headed south to be snowbirds for the winter. They really enjoyed the years spent in Arizona. They loved to travel; touring 49 states, Canada, and Mexico; all while calling Moorcroft home. They would have loved to see the 50th state but there is not yet a road to Hawaii. Following Melvin’s death Donna moved to Lusk, Wyoming for three years before moving back to Moorcroft.
Donna and Melvin were blessed with five children, Lynn (Fred) Dewey of Moorcroft, Cris (Charlotte) Mellott of Sundance, Marilyn (Tod) Nelson of Lance Creek, Cindy (Mance) Hurley of Casper, and Jon Mellott. Jon was laid to rest in Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, South Dakota in May 2023.
Donna is survived by four of her children, her sister-in-law, Dorothy (Gene) Mulholland, 16 grandchildren, and 31 great grandchildren. The greatest joy of Donna’s life was spending time with her large and loving family.
Donna was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Melvin; her son, Jon; son-in-law, Rick Huether; her two sisters and brothers-in-law; Darlene (Gordon) Gaskin and Elizabeth (Weldon) Welch; Melvin’s parents, Earl and Katherine (Thompson) Mellott; sisters and brothers-in-law, Phyllis (Don) Butts and Alta (Chuck) Kottraba.
Graveside services will be at 2:00 PM on Saturday, February 8, 2025, at the Moorcroft Cemetery.
Arrangements are under the care of Fidler-Isburg & Isburg Funeral Chapel of Sundance.
