Duane R. “Melf” Gourlie

Duane R. “Melf” Gourlie, 76, life­long Mayville res­i­dent, passed away peace­fully on Jan­u­ary 3, 2023, at An­gels Grace Hos­pice in Oconomowoc, with his lov­ing wife, Denise, by his side.
Melf was born on Sep­tem­ber 9, 1946, to Bertha and Ray­mond Gourlie in Hart­ford. He was a 1965 grad­u­ate of Mayville High School and true Car­di­nal Alumni. He humbly re­ceived the Katie award in 2014.
Melf mar­ried his high school sweet­heart, Denise Bonack, at St. An­drew’s Parish on De­cem­ber 9, 1967, and they raised their two chil­dren in Mayville.
He worked for Mayville En­gi­neer­ing Com­pany as a CAD en­gi­neer, re­tir­ing in 2003.
Melf lived his life by the Golden Rule and the 4Fs, Fam­ily, Friends, Foot­ball and Fun. Fam­ily was very im­por­tant to Melf and if you had the plea­sure of know­ing him, he treated every­one like fam­ily. He was a proud fa­ther and an even prouder grand­fa­ther. Melf was a ded­i­cated fam­ily man that was al­ways pre­sent at his chil­dren’s and grand­chil­dren’s events. He also loved his fam­ily of blue­birds that re­turned each spring. He fed, housed and nur­tured them, so that he and Denise could enjoy them.
Friends were fam­ily to Melf. He loved shar­ing a vodka gim­let or two, golf­ing, trav­el­ing, va­ca­tion­ing, line danc­ing, fish­ing and just shoot­ing the breeze. When he was out for his daily walk, he would al­ways stop and say hi. He was a pas­sion­ate golfer and spent his free time on the course with his bud­dies. He was blessed to have two hole in ones. Melf was also a huge Cubs fan, and his friends gave him a good rib­bing about that one.
Car­di­nal Foot­ball ran through his veins. He was proud to be a part of the Mayville sev­enth and eighth grade foot­ball pro­gram for many years. Melf had the plea­sure of work­ing with so many boys, be­com­ing their role model and men­tor, even his grand­son. He be­lieved in work ethic and that hard work pays off. He was es­pe­cially proud see­ing his final sev­enth grade team take the field this year at Camp Ran­dall and fol­lowed them every step of the way.
Melf loved to laugh and loved it even more when he could make peo­ple laugh. He thought life should be full of fun and to live every mo­ment to its fullest. He used humor to spread joy. If you were lucky enough to catch him on the stage, you know what I am talk­ing about. Melf had some great roles with the Marais Play­ers, KML play­ers and the Hart­ford Play­ers, not to men­tion his Lip Sync Days. He had fun por­tray­ing the Judds, Blues Broth­ers, Hill­bil­lies and many more with his part­ner in crime, Den­nis, and even one with his other broth­ers, Don and Dale. He had the role of Candy in “Of Mice and Men” where he showed his se­ri­ous side. Melf’s final role was Bud the Stud and he had so much fun with it.
“All the World’s a stage and all the men and women are merely play­ers; They have their exits and their en­trances, And one man plays many parts” – William Shake­sp­heare
Melf leaves be­hind his wife and biggest sup­porter, Denise; his two chil­dren, Car­rie (Scott) Hurst and Mike (Renee) Gourlie. He was a proud grand­fa­ther to Corbin and Carly Schroeder. Melf wel­comed Ryan (Kath­leen) and Randy (Cassi) Hurst into his fam­ily along with their chil­dren, Berkley, Kol­bie and Stephen. He loved his broth­ers, sis­ters-in-law and broth­ers-in-law, Don (Dorie), Den­nis (Pam), Dale (Karen) Gourlie, May­nard Laufen­berg, Dean Bonack, Dale (Sue) Bonack, Lee (Steph) Bonack; and many nieces, nephews, rel­a­tives and friends.
Melf was pre­ceded in death by his lov­ing mother, Bertha Gourlie; fa­ther, Ray­mond Gourlie; sis­ter, De­lores Laufen­berg; mother-in-law, Ruth Bonack, and fa­ther-in-law, Oscar Bonack.
A Mass of Chris­t­ian Bur­ial took place on Mon­day, Jan. 9, at 12 p.m. at St. Mary Catholic Church in Mayville with the Rev. Fr. Tom Bier­sack pre­sid­ing. Vis­i­ta­tion was held on Mon­day, Jan. 9, from 10 a.m. until the time of the ser­vice at 12 p.m. at the church. Bur­ial took place at St. Mary’s Ceme­tery in Mayville. A con­tin­ued cel­e­bra­tion of Melf’s life took place at The Meat­ing Place in Mayville fol­low­ing the ceme­tery prayers.
The fam­ily would like to thank the nurses and care­givers at An­gels Grace Hos­pice, Oconomowoc, for keep­ing Melf com­fort­able and pass with dig­nity and peace. They would also like to thank the Mayville com­mu­nity for all the kind words and sup­port through this dif­fi­cult time.
In lieu flow­ers, the fam­ily would like to honor Melf’s name by send­ing do­na­tions to Bag­gin’ for a Cure (Na­tional Ex­change Bank) as they sup­ported Melf and his wife through this tough time or do­na­tions in Melf’s mem­ory to An­gels Grace Hos­pice, Oconomowoc.
Koepsell Fu­neral Home in Mayville served the fam­ily. www.​KoepsellFH.​com