Bernardo Melendez Valcarcel

Bernardo Melendez, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed from this life Friday, December 15, 2023. He was born on August 20, 1924, to Maria Valcarcel and Andres Melendez in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.

My father, Bernardo Melendez, was an incredibly intense preacher of the Gospel with a strong evangelistic bent. That’s because he was an evangelist. He was not a pastor. For more than 50 years, he served as an itinerant evangelist trying all the time to rescue people from perishing.

My father was one of the most intense people I’ve ever known when he was in the pulpit and perhaps the happiest person at the dinner table. Nobody laughed more than my father laughed. If he told a joke, he always laughed most at it, so whether you thought the joke was funny or not, you were just drawn by his belly laughter.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Maria Valcarcel and Andres Melendez; his loving wife, Sara Maria Melendez; sister, Lucia Melendez Parilla; and son, Ruben Melendez.

Those left to honor and cherish his memory are his sister, Vicenta Melendez; sons, Bernardo Melendez, Jr., and Samuel Melendez; and 3 grandchildren, Benecio Samuel Melendez, Lillian Duskie Melendez, and Vivien Leigh Melendez.

Funeral services will be held at 11 am Friday, December 22, 2023, at Harper-Talasek Funeral Home in Killeen with Pastor Rob Beamon officiating. Burial will be in Arlington Park Cemetery in Greenfield, Wisconsin at a later date.

A time of visitation will be held from 5-7 pm Thursday, December 21, 2023, at the funeral home.