Melissa mourned

By Kath Gannaway
MELISSA Neylon was apprehensive about starting university, but looking forward at the same time to the exciting new opportunities it promised.
Those opportunities never came.
Melissa, 18, was killed when the car in which she was a passenger crashed not far from her Seville East home on 17 February.
The day of her funeral service at Lilydale, 26 February, was the day she was to be attending her first orientation day at Swinburne Hawthorn Campus where she was soon to start a social sciences course.
Her older sister Megan spoke lovingly at the service of a younger sister who enjoyed playing pranks, was spirited and independent but who was also “a tad nervous” about taking the next big steps in her life.
“I think everyone is a bit worried when they leave high school but you have a lot more freedom then to experience where life will go and it’s a shame Melissa didn’t get to experience that freedom,” she said.
The other big step was to be going for her driver’s licence.
She was booked in for her licence test for the Monday following her death.
Melissa moved from Kilsyth to Seville East with her family, parents Sue and Grant and sister Megan, when she was in Grade 2.
She attended Seville Primary School and just last year completed her HSC at Pembroke Senior Campus.
She had a talent for computer technology, loved the internet and her dogs.
Celebrant Sonia White described Melissa as a colourful personality who was always on the go and who loved to push the boundaries.
“Time did not stand still for her,” she said.
Friends Kerry Williamson, Bree Monks and Emma Hoehne spoke of Melissa’s fun-loving personality, the special friendship they shared and of a smile which could light up a room.
Emma said she and Melissa had been friends since primary school but that a common appreciation of the wacky humour of Lano and Woodley had seen them become best friends right through high school.
She told how she introduced Mel to the comedy duo on DVD in Year 7.
“We went to their concerts together and she just loved that wacky, stupid stuff,” she said.
Megan also spoke of her sister’s sense of humour. “She enjoyed playing pranks and practical jokes and she always made me laugh,’ she said.
“If you were down she could distract you from your bad thoughts and make you feel better.”
Megan and her mother Sue spoke of the promise the future held for Melissa with university and a part-time job presenting new challenges and opening up new opportunities.
“Melissa was still finding herself,” Megan said. “She didn’t have any major passions, but she had so much to look forward to.
I think that part of her life would have developed when she started uni and went on to make new friends.
“Sadly she didn’t get that chance.”