Melanie Tucker McNiel

A celebration of life for Melanie Tucker McNiel is scheduled for Friday, March 5, 2010, at 2 pm at Rader Funeral Home, Longview, with burial at Memory Park to follow. Rev. Tony Harp and Rev. Jimmy Jones will be officiating. The family will receive visitors on Thursday, March 4, 2010, from 6 pm until 8 pm at Rader Funeral Home. Melanie passed from her earthly home to be with her Heavenly Father on February 27, 2010, while napping in her home in Diana, Texas. Born November 7, 1952, in Longview, Texas, daughter of the late James B. JimmyTucker, Sr. and Eva Russell Tucker, Melanie grew up in Dangerfield and Lone Star, Texas, where she graduated from Dangerfield High School in 1970. She went to Stephen F. Austin State University for a short time before she met the love of her life and future husband, Bruce McNiel. This year marking their 37th anniversary, they were married in Longview on March 18, 1973. She and Bruce spent several years living outside of Texas, including New York City, New York, Greenville, South Carolina, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Melanie attended photography school while they resided in New York. After settling in South Carolina, Melanie gave birth to her first and only son, Brian McNiel, in 1976. Shortly after, they moved back to Longview, and she has resided there ever since. Melanie worked at the Summit Club in Longview for several years, finishing her career there as Social Director. While she worked there, she gave birth to her first daughter, Alyssa Ann McNiel, in 1985. Deciding to go out into the business world on her own, she opened her own catering company, successfully running it until the birth of her youngest, Caroline Melanie McNiel in 1994. She has since become a homemaker and full-time mom, raising her three children and taking care of the family and home. She was a rock and foundation to her family as well as the community, volunteering her time for all three of her children s schools and community projects. She was an active supporter of anything in which her children participated, often traveling hundreds of miles, never missing a single event. She was a member of Longview Missionary Baptist Church, where she spent many summers helping with Vacation Bible School. She had since returned to school, where she graduated from Kilgore Junior College, and continued her education at the University of Texas at Tyler, where she was finishing a degree in Social Work. She very much enjoyed helping others, and put everyone ahead of herself with her strong compassion, and unconditional love. She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and daughter, and will be truly missed by all that knew her. Having touched so many lives in the community, we will honor her memory in our hearts. She is survived by her mother, Eva Russell Tucker, of Longview; husband, Bruce McNiel, of Diana; son, Brian McNiel and wife, Carrie of Austin; daughters, Alyssa Ann McNiel of Katy and Caroline Melanie McNiel of Diana; granddaughters, Brooke Evelyn and Megan Elizabeth McNiel; a special niece, Monica Adams Robinson, husband Trey, and grandnephews Robbie, Reid, and Rhett of Austin; sisters, Peggy Tucker Gatlin, of Lake Cherokee, and Nancy Tucker Adams and husband Steve Adams, of Pine Tree; brother, James B. Jimmy Tucker, Jr. of Ensenada, Mexico; brother-in-law, Don McNiel and wife, Rhonda of Deerfield Beach, Fl.

Melanie Tucker McNiel

November 7, 1952 - February 27, 2010