Patrick J. Melia

Named Station for Contractor Who Built Church

Patrick J. Melia, 87, one of the oldest residents of Sarpy county, for whom Melia, Neb., was named, died early Tuesday morning at the home of a brother in Gretna. He had lived in the county 74 years.

Born in Ireland in 1844, his parents brought him to America and settled in Illinois when he was but four years old. In 1857, with some of the first white settlers in tis part of the country, the Melia family moved to Sarpy county.

Mr. Melia’s first job was driving a freight to Colorado and return. As construction foreman for the Union Pacific later, he specialized on bridge building. A carpenter by trade, Melia finally took up building contracting in Gretna, where he erected the first bank and also St. Patrick’s Catholic church. Under President Wilson, he was postmaster of Gretna.

Surviving are two brothers, Martin of Hastings, and James B. Melia of Gretna, with whom he made his home; and two sisters, Mrs. Hannah Mercer and Mrs. Elizabeth Armstrong, both of Omaha.

Funeral services will be held Thursday morning at the Melia home and from St. Patrick’s church at 10. Burial in the Gretna cemetery. Members of Omaha Council, Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, of which he was a member, will be in charge of the services. Knights will stand guard while the body lies in state.

From the Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Douglas Co., Nebraska), dated August 5, 1931