Bryce Melvin Obituary, Death – Melvin Bryce Coddou, 73, passed away peacefully at his home on Saturday, August 21, 2021. On October 13, 1947, he was born in Houston, Texas, to Virginia Mae Miller and C.A. “Lex” Coddou. After graduating from West Columbia High School, he went on to Texas A&M University, where he got a degree in Range Management in 1970. As a result, he was hired as a range assistant for the US Forest Service in Ennis, Montana. He lived in a one-room cabin in the woods and rode his horse every day to watch sheep grazing on forest property. This was his ideal job because it marked the start of his love affair with the mountains and fulfilled his dream to be born an explorer or mountain man. He then enlisted in the United States Army and served in Vietnam.
When he returned, he met and married Mary Lee Harding, beginning a magnificent love tale that would endure more than 48 years. Their romance began with this meeting. He co-owned C & S Fabricating with his good friend Tommy Slaughter, built two of the family’s houses (one of which was a log cabin built with the help of neighbors in the style of an old-fashioned barn raising), and had three incredible and beautiful daughters, from whom he eventually had five granddaughters.
He also erected a log home with the help of neighbors in the style of an old-fashioned barn raising. Mel was a self-sufficient individual with a low tolerance for whining and the belief that love was an activity. He was the type of man who would fulfill his word, stay out of other people’s business (save when advising his daughters), and complete a task at almost any cost (you CAN reattach a fingertip with superglue although this is not recommended). No matter how trendy or cold it was outside, he wore blue jeans, a long-sleeved Wrangler shirt, and a pocketknife with every ensemble. He thought a suit was completed without a pocketknife.
Mel returned to school after starting a family and earned a degree in civil engineering from Montana State University. This was the beginning of a fantastic career with CONOCO that included special initiatives, worldwide travel, and frequent relocations. Mel began his work after establishing a family. During our vacations, my family and I would take exciting journeys to various destinations. He instilled in his daughters a spirit of independence and provided them with experiences, backbones, and ugly automobiles, all of which they showed thanks for much later in life. Furthermore, he valued honesty, integrity, and hard effort, and he expected the same from people around him as he did from himself.