Melvin Dale Rumbaugh was born in Pella, Iowa, Sept. 13, 1929. He died in Lincoln, Nebraska on February 8, 2023. Melvin was the son of Herbert Robert and Lena (Schakel) Rumbaugh. He was educated in the Pella public schools and graduated from Pella High School in 1947. His advanced education was at Central College in Pella where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology in 1951 and at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln where he received an M.S. degree in 1953 and a PhD in 1958 in Agronomy.

Melvin married Annabelle Eis, daughter of Rudy Ludwig Eis and Bessie Klossner Eis on July 5, 1953 in St. Paul- Methodist Church, Lincoln, Nebraska. Their union resulted in four children: Alan Lee, Rosemary Ann, David James, and Steven Thomas.

He served as a Corporal in the U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and at the Medical Research Laboratory, Army Chemical Center, Edgewood, Maryland, where he was a Research Technician. Melvin was an Assistant Professor of Agronomy at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, in 1958; Professor of Plant Science at South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota, 1959-1977; and a Research Plant Geneticist at the Range Research Laboratory, USDA-Agriculture Research Service, Logan, Utah, 1977-1992. After retirement he and Annabelle moved to their farm south of Humboldt, Nebraska.

Melvin participated in plant germplasm collections in Bolivia, Canada, China, Ecuador, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Russia, Spain, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. He was an exchange scientist with the People's Republic of China in 1987, 1990, and 1991. He represented the U.S. Academy of Science during two trips to Pakistan in 1991 and participated in international scientific meetings in Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and Spain. He was a member of the joint U.S.-Russian Vavilov Institute expedition to inventory and collect legumes in the Caucasus Mountains in 1995. Melvin also traveled in Columbia, Egypt, France, Great Britain, Germany, Qatar, The Czech Republic, and Turkey. He contributed more than 220 articles to professional journals, book chapters, and other scientific papers. Melvin was the inventor of superior methods to genetically improve alfalfa and rangeland forb species, and an authority on plant growth and nitrogen fixation on saline soils. He was selected as an honorary lifetime member of the North American Alfalfa Improvement Conference in 1994. Melvin was a Fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and of the Crop Science Society of America. He was a member of Beta Beta Beta (Biology Honor Society), Sigma Chi, the Society of Range Management, a past president of the Humboldt Rotary Club, a past secretary of the South Dakota Archery Association, and for several years was the state of South Dakota bow hunting representative for the National Field Archery Association. He was a Republican. After retirement, Melvin was the author of two books about his family genealogy and another on the history of the Humboldt Rotary Club. Avocations were genealogy, history, and deer hunting.

Survivors include his beloved wife of 69 years, Annabelle, sons: Alan Lee (Ann) Rumbaugh of Plymouth, Nebraska, and Steven Thomas (Rita) Rumbaugh I, of Champaign, Illinois, and daughter Rosemary Ann (Stanley) Carlson of Ramah, New Mexico. Grandchildren are Cody Alan Rumbaugh, Steven Thomas Rumbaugh II., and Kaylie Ann Carlson. There is one step-granddaughter, Beth Yoble, and four step-great grandchildren (Tucker, Ryker, Kennedi, and Tilley Townsley). His identical twin brother, Marvin Gale Rumbaugh (Cherry) of Coleman, Texas, and his sister-in-law, Ruth Ellen Flentje of San Marcos, Texas, also survive.

His parents, son David James Rumbaugh (1958 - 1973), a brother, Herbert Junior Rumbaugh (1931 - 1991), a half-brother, De Wyatt Gregory Rumbaugh (1920 - 2008), a step-great grandson (Cameron Townsley), and a special friend and mentor, Miss Nellie Dingeman, preceded Melvin in death.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, February 18, 2023 at the Wherry Mortuary in Humboldt, Nebraska.

Interment will follow in the Bohemian National Cemetery, rural Humboldt, Nebraska.

Memorials may go to the family's choice.

Online condolences may be left @ www.wherrymortuary.com.

Services are entrusted to Wherry Mortuary, Humboldt, Nebraska.