Dewey Thomas Melton JR

Dewey T. Melton Jr.
(1944 - 2025)


Dewey T. Melton Jr. — a longtime Pacifica resident, avid outdoorsman, and old-school "man of his word" who helped build and refurbish some of California's most iconic hotels — died peacefully at home on September 30, 2025. He was 81.

To his friends and family, Dewey was a "man's man" with a soft side. He was "tough as nails," but often grew teary at his grandchildren's graduations and sporting events. He was shy and humble, but also "quietly confident"; serious and reserved, but also full of dry humor.

Born July 16, 1944, to Dewey and Ruby Melton, Dewey spent his early childhood in Safford, Arizona, a small farming and copper mining town with fewer than 5,000 residents at the time. He grew up hunting and fishing and playing poker for quarters. But his life took an unexpected turn in 1958 when his father, a heavy machine operator, died suddenly at age 33 after a work accident, leaving the family — a widow and four young children — ill-prepared for the future. Dewey had to grow up fast — a change in circumstances that would shape his work ethic for years to come.

The following year, Dewey's mother remarried. And Dewey's new stepfather, Don Pickens, moved the family to San Francisco for his job as a prison guard, ferry pilot and sharpshooter at the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. While living on the island, Dewey found the best spots to fish undisturbed. And on weekdays, the teenager would take the ferry (piloted by his stepfather) to school. He later recalled how if he missed the last ferry back (which he sometimes did), he would have to sleep in his car.

During those years, the family also lived in Pacifica for a period of time, where Dewey (his family called him "Duke") was a standout athlete in football, basketball and track at the newly minted Terra Nova High School. In 1962, he graduated with Terra Nova's first graduating class. Soon after, he began an apprenticeship in carpentry. When the prison on Alcatraz closed in 1963, Dewey's family — his parents and five younger siblings, Charlene, Pauline, Darryl, Freddy and baby Liz — all pulled up stakes and headed back to Arizona. But Dewey, still a teenager, chose to stay behind. By all accounts, he had found his place in Pacifica.

In 1965, Dewey married his best friend's younger sister, Margaret Clayton, and had two sons, Dewey T. Melton III and David Wayne Melton. To support his family, he went to work for Feiler Brothers, a fledgling construction company operating out of a garage. But by the late 1970s, his marriage had come to an end. At the same time, he was taking on bigger projects at the now-prospering Feiler Brothers — projects like the historic Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. Before long, he was living in New York temporarily to help Jim Feiler oversee a renovation of the celebrated 1905 hotel. In 1985, however, after Feiler Brothers merged with Marchetti Construction, he moved back to Pacifica to be near his young sons and work for the Marchetti side of the business.

It was on a job site that year — at Shreve & Co. Jewelers in San Francisco — that Dewey first laid eyes on his second wife, Rikki Chambers. He was overseeing a multimillion-dollar project to restore the 1906 building to its pre-earthquake/fire condition. Rikki was working as a sales associate for Shreve & Co. at the time. She still remembers looking up at the interior balcony of the elegant old building and catching Dewey looking down at her. A year later, they were married at the Old St. Hilary's Preserve wedding chapel in Tiburon. And just four months ago, on their 38th wedding anniversary, they posed for pictures outside the white chapel on a sunny day.

Over the course of his career, Dewey managed construction projects at The Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, The Claremont in Oakland, The Mark Hopkins in San Francisco, and the St. Francis Hotel on San Francisco's Union Square, among others. His work at the St. Francis Hotel went on for 36 years — refurbishing suites, building out the opulent, wood-paneled Compass Rose bar and the rooftop nightclub Club OZ, and helping to renovate the tower. Over time, he became a fixture at the elegant St. Francis. He played on the hotel's softball team and was as comfortable with the laborers as he was with hotel management. Some even incorrectly assumed he owned "Dewey's Bar" on the hotel's first floor. In a small way, by happenstance, he remains memorialized at the hotel, thanks to a time capsule lodged under the sidewalk out front. Years ago, when the sidewalk was being redone, someone decided that burying a time capsule of artifacts would be a nice touch, and Dewey was invited to throw his business card into the mix.

In 2009, after 41 years on the job, Dewey retired from Marchetti as senior vice president. He had come a long way from his humble beginnings.

But there was more to Dewey's life than work. He was always looking for the next best fishing spot. He constructed his own bamboo spears for Eeling off the rocky coast. And there were annual fishing and arrowhead-hunting trips to Cedarville in Modoc County. And then, of course, there was hunting season. Which, for Dewey, was a year-round thing. He hunted everything from elk to deer to wild boar to turkey and pheasants all over the West. For many years, he belonged to the Golden Ram hunting club, and various other clubs, and had a tight-knit group of Basque and Italian hunter friends who would show up at their hunting camp with flan and homemade minestrone soup.

And then there were the softball games. A lot of them. For years, Dewey played on various local teams, including a two-year stint on the Latin team MVM, which only permitted three minority, non-Latin players. When the team disbanded, some of the players, including Dewey, joined another city team that went on to win several division titles. His softball friends called him "Disco Man."

And he loved listening to old-style country western singers like Merle Haggard, and eating Mexican food, and playing cards, and watching people fish and hunt on TV (something his wife teased him about). He loved walking in the Arizona desert with his sisters in search of old glass bottles and artifacts. And in the year 2000, he designed and built his Pacifica dream home, with his wife Rikki, from the ground up.

Dewey was someone who lived life on his own terms. But he also liked giving people the chance to prove themselves, family and former employees say. They remember him as a tough but compassionate boss who expected a lot but also had their back. Take Dewey's brother Fred, for example. He came to California from Arizona in 1984, he moved in with Dewey for a few months and worked for him for years before setting off on his own. And he still lives just an hour's drive away. Then there was Dewey's nephew Paul Roman, who, as a teenager, also came to California from Arizona looking for a fresh start. Initially moving in with Dewey and Rikki, he went to work for Dewey at Marchetti. And more than three decades later, he's still working there. He fondly remembers his uncle Dewey as "an amazing leader." And in the end, Rikki says, Dewey grew to love Paul like another son. Dewey's sons, extended family, and close friends, she says, were always what meant the most to him in life.

Dewey is survived by his beloved wife Rikki; brother Fred (Athena) of Santa Rosa; sister Liz Pickens of Willcox, Arizona; sons Dewey III (Cora) of Frisco, Texas, and David Wayne (former wife Lisa) of Blue Lake, California; grandsons David, Dewey IV, and William; granddaughters Catherine and Crystal; and many special nephews and nieces, and great-nephews and great-nieces.

A graveside internment will take place on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 10:45 am at the Sky Lawn Memorial Park, Route 35 at Highway 92, in San Mateo. In lieu of flowers and donations, please write down a favorite Dewey memory or story to leave with the family.

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