Melvin Booker Shrewsbury MA Death: Family and friends are mourning the demise of an education advocate and philanthropist who died unexpectedly this week.
Melvin Booker was a Barbados native, a Boston English and Becker College graduate, and a beloved Worchester resident. The death of the former linebacker left the entire Massachusetts community devastated.
Melvin Booker was loved by everyone who knew him. He was described as an ever-happy young man who worked himself out to get to the peak of his career. Hailing from the Islands of Barbados, Melvin never had an elementary education until he came to Boston. He had his middle school education in Boston.
Mevin, in an interview, narrated how joining a group of friends negatively impacted his life. After he was released from jail at age 17, for a theft, Melvin decided to better his life. He started reading more books, made better friends, and worked harder.
Who Was Melvin Booker?
Coming from Barbados and landing on the campus of Becker College would make for an interesting travel tale in itself. Booker made an effort to read more literature. He did not attend elementary school in Barbados, hence his reading ability was constantly below his contemporaries.
He then enrolled at Boston English, and football became a driving factor in his life. Booker demonstrated his determination by interning in Mayor Thomas Menino’s office and serving on the Mayor’s Youth Council alongside Patty McMahon.
Despite just playing one and a half seasons of high school football, Booker received significant playing time in his senior year. That helped him get on the Becker College roster, where he made an immediate impact as a freshman last year, finishing with 59 tackles. That trailed only Jake Bateman, the school’s all-time leading tackler, with 60 for the team lead.
Booker pursued a double degree in legal studies and criminal justice. He was eager to go to law school after graduating from Becker and pursue a career as a district attorney. Sadly, Melvin took his own life on Monday following a battle with depression and mental illness.
What Happened To Melvin Booker?
He was found dead with a self-inflicted injury. His family and friends in Leicester and Worcester, Massachusetts have asked the public to remember them in prayers. A close friend wrote; “My heart is broken. My brother Melvin Booker was the type of person everyone needed in their life. He lit up every room he walked into with his contagious laughter and luminous smile. He was the first to support your dreams and goals, doing whatever he could to propel you forward. He would give you the shirt off his back without blinking an eye. Dance parties and carpool karaoke were a must, every time. If you needed advice he was always the first to listen, with his powerful words of wisdom.”
“This doesn’t feel real at all, and to say you will be missed is the biggest understatement. But you’ve brought this family closer together, and brought two beautiful boys into the world. Marcus is a spitting image of you and Myles will forever carry your strength and resilience. I will see you in them every time I look at them. And we will all be sure they remember just how forever loved by you they are. Melvin I’m so eternally grateful for you, and grateful your mind and heart are finally at ease, and free from the weight you’ve been carrying. Check on your people, the loud ones. The quiet ones. The ones always laughing, and the ones who push you away. You never know what they’re going through inside. Until we meet again big brother, I love you. Forever and always.”
Law enforcement agencies are investigating the death as a suicide. Encourage anyone battling depreesion to call 911 or 988.