Melissa Marie Duross

Melissa Marie (Howell) Duross, born in Columbus, Ohio at Riverside Methodist Hospital on April 16th, 1990, and on April 1st, 2025 took her final trip to walk through those gates of heaven. Waiting on her at those gates were her best friend/sister, Lelia King; little sister, Nevaeh Davey; step brothers, Dion Clark and Brandon Zeigler; step sister, Carlene Chu; step dads, Fred Chu and Charles Andrew; step mom, Kathy Zeigler; grandparents, Betty Loriane and Buddy Howell, David Eugene and Marilyn Swisher; bonus grandmother, Lelia Hunter; step grandmother, Sherlyn Zeigler; uncle, Timothy Swisher; aunt, Rebekah Recci Cline Thompson; and bonus father, Glynda Bowles. She is survived by her mother, Lisa (Howell) Sargent; father, David Arnold Swisher; bonus mother, Bernice Bowman; children, Chasity, Kenneth Jr., Bentley, and Zayden; bonus children, Isabelle (Ryza) Johnson-Parfitt; bonus grandson, Raziyah; God children, Nicholas (Kaetlyn) Hodnett and Dawn Findley; and God grandson, Nicholas Jr. She is also survived by siblings, Christopher Howell, Christina Chapman, Timothy Fitzwater, Robert Soliday, David Fitzwater, Elizabeth (Aaron) Suboticki, Evelyn (Marco) Palomino, Katelyn (Joshua) Fingerhut, Chance Soliday, William Schafer, Samantha Schafer, and Kathryn Schafer; step siblings, Catherine Ziegler-Blankenship (Anthony Reed), Ashley Chu, Johnathan Zeigler, Brent Zeigler, and Helene Steed; bonus sisters, Tiffany, Krissy, and Tierra; nieces, Brynnee, Rome, Destinee, Coraline, Neveah, and Blakely Rain; nephews, Anthony, Hudson, Carter, Brayden, Theodore, and Bruce; bonus niece, Zakiya, Kendra, Kathleen, and Liyla; bonus nephew, Kaden; step nieces, Sherlyn, Mariah, Anastasia, Kai~lei, Allison, and Lilly; step nephews, Isiah, Skylor, Anthony Jr., Zachary, and Christopher; aunties, Vicki Rannebarger and Alicia Parker; uncle, Tre Parker; and favorite cousins, Savannah, Alexandria, Sara, Rain, Aleena, Michael, Jestin (Stephanie), and Andy; husband in heart, Slyfester Zehrung; along with many other aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Melissa had a passion for helping troubled teenage girls with hopes she can help them change their lives around, teach them how to be successful young ladies, and watch them flourish into better people. She had dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, fish, gerbils, cats, and caterpillars that turned into butterflies. Melissa enjoyed camping and going to fairs, carnivals, amusement parks, museums, festivals, concerts, zoos, and karaoke. She also enjoyed swimming, skating, exercising, tanning, traveling, shopping, bowling, water balloon fights, play fights and watching animals shows. Events she liked attending include the Jazz and Ribs fest, Comfest, gay pride, arts fests, Red, White and Boom, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, and various parades. She attended different types of summer camps to learn about life, nature, and many activities for surviving outdoors. She learned about different types of trees, leaves, and animals, listening to different types of sounds, and how to build a bonfire. Melissa liked to play red light green light, mother may I, red rover, cartoon freeze tag, I spy, tag, hide-N-seek, jump rope, hopscotch, tic-tac-toe, tetherball, and bingo. Some other things she liked to do include jumping on trampolines, planting fruits and vegetables which were used for canning, arts and crafts, writing poems, drawing, painting, building things out of clay, making hemp keychains, bracelets, and belts from yarn and tabs from the top of pop cans. She did activities such as sudoku, crossword puzzles, scrapbooking, and spoiling all the kids and her family. Celebrating holidays, birthdays, get togethers, reunions, building memories and laughing were some of her favorite things to do with her family. She liked to read and some of her favorite books include Charlotte’s Web, vampire books, Stephen King novels, and romantic books. Some television shows and movies she enjoyed include Twilight, Charlotte’s Web, Home Alone, Madea, Big Daddy, Free Willy, Babe, and Titanic. In her childhood she watched Barney, Teletubbies, Big Bear in the Big Blue House, Pee-wee Herman, Rugrats, CatDog, The Flintstones, Arthur, Looney Tunes, Rollie Pollie Ollie, Little Bear, Winnie the Pooh, Beauty and the Beast, That’s so Raven, and the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen movies. Melissa had no degrees; however, she did get her safe serve certification. She volunteered at the east side recreation center, track events for young children and teenagers, and the Jazz and Rib Fest. Her jobs include Tim Hortons, Arby’s, Duchess and bp gas stations, and cleaning out houses Day Funeral Service is honored to serve the family of Melissa Duross.

Melissa Marie Duross

April 16, 1990 - April 1, 2025