Painting of Melody Arons
by Esther Rosen '98

Melody was born on January 7, 1968 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The picture above reflects her life and story. During Melody’s first year she was diagnosed with a variety of developmental delays and retardation. Her status was described as “hopeless,” the best that could be expected was eventual institutionalization. That dire prediction was soon found to be wrong. By age two she was walking and confounding her pediatrician and neurologist. "She’s not supposed to be able to do this.”

As a toddler, Melody loved animals, snakes, birds, and frogs. She carried around her guinea pig, “Piggie”, eventually learning to talk in order to explain to Piggie what she saw on Sesame Street. Melody was the first generation of children to grow up with Sesame Street characters as part of her daily experience. From ages 3-5 she attended Marble Hill Nursery School and experienced the isolation of a child with language, attention and sensory difficulties. But her persistence and resilience resulted in her entering Kindergarten at age 5 ½ at P.S. 98 in Inwood, Manhattan, where she remained through first grade in the 1974-1975 school year. By that time, the school asked that she be tested for special education placement. In an effort to obtain the services she needed, she and her family moved to Teaneck, New Jersey in June of 1975.

In 1976 her brother, Jonathan, was born. She loved the role of “Big Sister”, soon figuring out that if she learned to baby sit with him she could earn money by baby-sitting for other children in the neighborhood. Melody wore every hairstyle that came along after her braids were cut, ranging from the surprise Afro she decided to give herself to sophisticated cuts and colors. She finally decided that she was a redhead at heart, her long hair becoming her trademark.

Melody became a dog expert. She learned the names of many breeds and looked for books that explained where they came from. She worked for a time at the Bergen Animal Shelter, learning the personalities of certain breeds and having long discussions with potential dog owners about what they needed and how to handle their new dogs. During the summers, she was a Junior Camp Counselor. When the head of the camp saw her handling the large snakes in their Nature Center, she was assigned to teach the small children about snakes and given a bonus to come into the camp to feed the snakes during weekends.

When Melody became 18 she wanted to learn to drive. Her teachers told her she shouldn’t drive became she was too hyperactive and would get lost easily. Her parents and family friends were also concerned. One day when she was 19, a Taggart’s Driving School car pulled up in front of her house. She said, “Oh, Mom. I forgot to tell you. I passed my driver’s test and paid Taggarts to teach me to drive.” When she passed her road test and got her driver’s license, she said, “You know my Mom doesn’t drive and we only have one car. Now I have to get my own car.” She did get her car, and labeled it “Pitbul 1”. Melody had been employed since age 16 and was proud of her financial independence and ability to buy the things she wanted, including her car.

She loved parties - the more people the better. Her two favorites were when she got her Teaneck High School diploma and on her 21st birthday. Her favorite topic of conversation was about work. It gave her structure, purpose, friends, gossip to share and a paycheck. For 2 years she had two full time jobs. During the day she worked in the mailroom of Chase Mellon. At night, she was a “Devil’s Girl” for the New Jersey Devils hockey team. This stopped when she was 26 and got a promotion from Chase Mellon. She was put in charge of overnighting all major stock transactions and associated certificates to various brokerage houses.

Her triumphant life and her will to succeed established the goal posts for others to follow. She confounded the experts who said she couldn’t and she did. So it is with the Center that bears her name.