Melanie Williams

Melanie has been on the NVRC Board since December 2023.

She is a retired Federal employee who worked for the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Records Administration as a technical writer/editor (legal) for nearly 40 years. She also served brief stints at OPM, the Smithsonian Institution, and the cartographical department of the National Archives while she was still in college and immediately after. Melanie is a 1977 graduate of Gallaudet University with a B.A. in history.

Melanie believes she was born with a hearing loss, which declined even more when she had scarlet fever at 18 months.  She graduated as salutatorian from Sheffield High School in Memphis, Tennessee.  This was before mainstreaming became a "thing."   Melanie managed by copying notes from classmates, staying after class to talk to teachers on a one-on-one basis, and doing a lot of reading.  She is active in her church, Fairfax Church of Christ, and has served in various positions with the Northern Virginia Association of the Deaf (NVAD), the Virginia Association of the Deaf (VAD), and Happy Hands Deaf Seniors.  Melanie is a true homebody, who loves spending time at home and with her husband, two children, and three grandchildren, plus her cat.  If she could, she'd live on a farm with a few horses, dogs, and cats.