Melvin Bernhard Waidmann, affectionately known as “Pop,” was born on July 18, 1939, in East St. Louis, Illinois. He moved to Fairview Heights, Illinois, when he was very young and spent the rest of his life there. As a youth, he enjoyed hanging out with friends, being gone all day riding his bike, hunting, and playing in the woods. (He just needed to make sure he was home by suppertime!)
He attended Grant School and Belleville Township High School West. He played the accordion for a few years and was also in the marching band where he played the big bass drum. He has always had a good work ethic which he instilled in his children. Some of the various places Pop worked was at the French Village Drive-In (his first job) where he made $.45 an hour selling concessions. He was the head pizza maker at Mariettas Italian Restaurant before working at Royer and Rogers for about four years, during which time he went to school at night to become a mechanic.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he joined the Air Force and was six months on active duty and six years in the reserves. He also worked at American Steel for four years before working for PIE Trucking Company for nine years. Then he worked for several different trucking companies before finding Allied Systems, where he was a diesel mechanic on car haulers for 21 years. After retiring in 1997, Pop drove for Cadillac part-time, picking up and delivering cars from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico. He never got in an accident! He always had a love of cars and even owned two cars at the age of 15 before he even had his driver’s license! He currently owns five! While his children were growing up, he would point out various cars, being able to give you the make and model year.
Pop was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and served faithfully in various callings as a counselor to four Bishops, a High Counselor, a Stake Clerk and a Stake Sunday School President. He served a mission with his wife Judy in the East St. Louis, Illinois Inner-city Branch. He also served a one-year mission with Judy in Centralia, and as a service missionary at the Bishop’s Storehouse for over two years. Pop loved to travel and would faithfully take his family on vacation every year, traveling all over the United States. He also owned boats and taught his children how to water ski. Pop survived a battle with prostate cancer and a battle with colon cancer.
He was preceded in death by his mother Helen (Strauser), his father Bernhard Waidmann, and his sister Charlotte (Dean) Allred.
He is survived by his wife Judy; his sister Madelyn Waidmann; his four children, Mary (Mike) Hollister, Eric (Kelley) Waidmann, Melvin (Rhonda) Waidmann II, and Brent (Jena) Waidmann; 14 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews. He died peacefully surrounded by his family.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2025. Visitation will be from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 9827 Bunkum Road, Fairview Heights, Illinois.
