Margaret R. “Peggy” Melotti

Margaret R. “Peggy” Melotti

Melotti was a pioneer in meeting certain needs and providing services to local veterans and women. The photograph as well as the following is excerpted from an obituary from the Adams Family Funeral Home of Cumberland, Maryland website:

“Margaret R. “Peggy” Melotti (1932-2022) was a native of Pennsylvania and in 1976 received her Associate of Arts Degree in Mental Health Technology from Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, Pennsylvania. She opened the first Women’s Refuge Center, now known as the Family Crisis Resource Center, in Cumberland, Maryland 1977. It was also at that time she began working at the Thomas B. Finan (inpatient psychiatric hospital) Center. In 1982 Melotti began counseling at Re-Entry, a counseling service for combat veterans and their families. This began a life-time of service to combat veterans who had served in various theaters of war. In 1987 and at the request of the government she became the program director and owner of Re-Entry Associates.

Melotti is recognized as a pioneer and leader in the field of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) counseling and was board certified in this field in 1996. She was honored with a lifetime membership in Cumberland’s Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 172, honored in 2001 with the Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor for her work on behalf of combat veterans, was board certified in Crisis Management in 2006, received the Governor of Maryland’s Citation in 2009 for Outstanding Service to Veterans and was also honored with a Maryland House Resolution recognizing her outstanding service to area veterans. For her 27 years of service working with veterans throughout the tri-state area of Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia Peggy Melotti was presented a flag that had been flown over the U.S. Capitol. ‘Peggy dedicated her whole life to the health and wellness of veterans.’ ”

Note: The obituary states the Women’s Refuge Center opened in 1977. Other sources note it was incorporated the following year, in 1978. According to an article appearing in the April 23, 2008 issue of the Cumberland Times-News entitled, “Crisis Relief,” in its first year of operation the Refuge sheltered about 15 women and 14 children for a total of 42 bed nights, and the maximum length of stay was three days. By 2008 records showed 4,786 bed nights for 89 women and 87 children with an average length of stay of 27 days, “and growing.” A Cumberland Times-News article published on August 20, 2010 by Shane Riggs states that in 2009 there were 293 reports of domestic violence in Allegany County according to the Uniform Crime Report. By now known as the Family Crisis resource Center, the FCRC served 391 victims of domestic abuse that year.