Shoreline community remembers Dr. Mel

New London, Conn. (WTNH) - People along Connecticut's shoreline are remembering Dr. Mel's life.

Dr. Mel suffered from multiple myeloma and often reached out to people at The William Backus Hospital in Norwich. Hospital officials, just like many others have memories of how Mel touched lives.

"He spoke twice at cancer survivors day and the reason he spoke twice was he was such an inspiration to the cancer survivors that attended we asked him to come back," said Shawn Mawhiney, William Backus Hospital. "He epitomizes what we at Backus Hospital say all the time, which is cancer should be a chapter in somebody's life and not the whole story."

"For as long as I've been here since 1979 my wife and I have appreciated watching Dr. Mel and of course the rest of the meteorologists there," said Pat Trainor, Norwich, "and his passing is certainly a very sombering and sorrow time for us and our thoughts go out to the family."

"I liked him as a weather man," said John Cluny, Norwich. "I thought he was outstanding and probably miss watching him."

"My neighbors and friends always had something good to say about him whenever the topic came up and many times they would quote him, 'Dr. Mel said so,'" said Sylvia Miller, Norwich. "he was part of the neighborhood, part of the family in a way, and will be missed."

"Coming from down south cause I'm from down south," said Kendria Clark, Norwich. "Coming from up north this was very different, so I could just tell he was a good man and had a very good heart."

"He couldn't get from the parking lot to the speaking engagement because he would take the time to talk to everybody, sign autographs, and just everybody knew and loved Dr. Mel," said Mawhiney.