Doves for Melissa

By Tania Martin
ALWAYS having a friendly smile for everyone is how Monbulk residents remember Melissa Hobbs, who died in a car accident last month.
Melissa’s family and more than 300 people celebrated her life last week and recalled all the wonderful stories that made Melissa such a fun and loving person.
Her parents, Jean and Trevor Hobbs, released 10 doves at Melissa’s gravesite to symbolise the day she was born.
She died on Tuesday, 28 February after the car she was driving and a four-wheel drive vehicle collided near Olinda Road only a few minutes from Monbulk. She had just turned 32.
Jean and Trevor said Melissa was a fun-loving girl who seemed to make friends wherever she went.
“She (Melissa) had heaps of friends and she seemed to fit in wherever she travelled and was loved by everyone,” Mr Hobbs said.
Jean said Melissa would have loved the celebration with balloons, flowers and the doves.
“She would have loved all the attention,” she said.
Melissa was well-known to the Monbulk community, having grown up in town. She attended Monbulk Primary School and Monbulk Secondary College.
Melissa loved to dance and spent eight years at the Hart School of Dancing in Sassafras.
Jean recalls her daughter was always tap dancing in the house.
Melissa was part of the Monbulk Christian Fellowship youth group and went on many camps.
“She didn’t really enjoy roughing it; she enjoyed the comforts of home too much,” Jean said.
Melissa loved adventure and loved to travel. She learned how to water ski and went skydiving.
She travelled to Europe, Canada, America, Fiji and Hawaii, but her favourite place was the Greek Islands.
After leaving school, Melissa went to work for Safeway in Monbulk, then transferred to the Ferntree Gully store and moved on to Stud Park, Rowville, when a new store opened there.
She left Safeway after 12 years and went to work for Arnott’s Biscuits as a sales representative.
The Hobbs family said they would always have Tim Tams flowing through their veins because of Melissa.
Arnott’s told Jean and Trevor that Melissa’s creativity, sense of fun, professionalism and vibrant personality always shone through in her work.
Melissa is survived by two sisters, Amanda and Rachel, and her brother, Stephen, as well as nephews Connor, Riley and Seamus.
One of the many things Melissa loved to do as a child with her father was to go ‘up to the farm’ – meaning a visit to her grandparents’ Monbulk farm.
Melissa loved dressing up, which led to her participating in fashion parades through Jenny’s Shoppe in Monbulk.
“Melissa loved clothes, jewellery and shoes and had a lovely, tall figure that looked good in everything,” Trevor said.
Iris Schuurmann, from Jenny’s Shoppe, said Melissa always had a friendly smile for everyone, while shop owner Jenny said she always looked stunning when she modelled in the fashion parades.
The Hobbs family said they would like to thank everyone for their prayers, support, flowers, cards and words of comfort at this very difficult time.