“RUNNING MAN”
Sunrise: August 8, 1942
Sunset: Sept 4, 2024
Melvin was born in Atlanta Georgia, to Hayward and Ruth Slaughter and was the oldest child with one brother, James L. Williams.
At an early age, Melvin and his family moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Brooklyn, New York. Growing up in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Melvin graduated from Wingate High School, Pratt University, and the University of Washington.
Throughout his career, Melvin worked as a professional counselor within the social service sector, advocating for and helping families and children. He was especially helpful and inspiring to his Black clientele that he served after getting his sociology graduate degree from the University of Washington here in Seattle, Washington in 1993.
Before moving to Seattle, Melvin resided in Anchorage, Alaska, for about two years. Once he moved to Seattle, he became enamored with the Pacific Northwest and the year-round evergreen landscape. It inspired him to start long distance running again, he ran through the Central Area, daily on his way to Lake Washington, across the floating Bridge, and on to scenic locales all around Martin Luther King Jr. County. Soon after he started running in this breathtaking environment, known as the Pacific Northwest he decided to make Seattle his permanent home. He ran in, at least, 15 marathons, and placed very highly in many of them.
“He is the reason why many brothers and sisters IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD would come up to me and say, “I am motivated by that cat everybody calls, the RUNNING MAN, to exercise more. hell, if that brother can run everyday, I can too.”
Melvin Slaughter, leaves to mourn him, four children: Valerie Jackie Sewell (Georgia), Brian Kenneth Rapp Brown (Virginia), Shawn Priester (South Carolina) and Karyn Higgins (Georgia). He had eight grandchildren and a host of great-grandchildren.
Melvin Felton Slaughter will be missed as he was always a kind and caring gentleman with dignity and grace, which will be remembered by all of us who knew him.
Larry Gossett
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