Melanie L. Arce

Melanie L. Arce, daughter of the late Larry L. Ridley Sr. and Ruth T. Ridley, was born on October 13, 1970 in Portsmouth Virginia. She attended I.C. Norcom High School, where she played clarinet in the marching band and graduated in 1988. After graduating, her family relocated to Washington, D.C. where Melanie began working for Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It is there where she met Isaias Arce who she later married and shared two children with, Ariel and Isaias. She would relocate several times, once to New York, where she would have another son, Misael Arce. During her travels, she became a member of New Mercies Christian Church of Lilburn, Georgia. Eventually she made her way back home to Virginia where she would have her final son, her snuggle bug, Tobias Carmichael. Melanie discovered a passion for taking care of others early in her life. She graduated from Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center Practical Nursing Program in Wilkes-Barre, PA to become a proud Licensed Practical Nurse. Driven by her genuine ambition to help people, she later obtained her Associates Degree in Nursing from Fortis College and became an even prouder Registered Nurse. During her life, she worked in several hospitals and nursing homes. Finally, she found a career working on the insurance side with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. She loved every second of her profession and extended it to her personal life where she would care for many members of her family and strangers alike. She saved the lives of children and adults, sometimes in the presence of her own children. If a person needed help, she stopped whatever she was doing to aid them. Nursing was her calling and anyone who knew her was a witness to this. Melanie was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in September 2020. For the next year, she spent every day fighting, believing, and pushing herself to get better. On October 5, 2021 in Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, the Lord decided she had fought enough and it was now time for her to finally rest alongside her beloved father and mother. Melanie was a funny, beautiful, selfless, compassionate, hard working, honest, and intelligent soul. Her favorite accomplishment: she was a loving mother. Preceding her in death are her grandparents Joseph T. Boone, Louis Ridley, and Beulah Ridley. Her life will forever be cherished by her children: Ariel A. Arce, Isaias Arce Jr., Misael A. Arce, Tobias L. Carmichael, Isaias Arce II, Delhia G. Arce; siblings, Larry L. Ridley Jr., Nichelle Ridley-Gardner (Justin), Travis Ridley (Rosalyn); grandmother, Ruth A. (Diggs) Boone; and a host of nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. A visitation will be held from 6 - 8pm Thursday, October 14, 2021 at Woodlawn Funeral Home in Norfolk, VA. A funeral service will be conducted at 1pm Friday, October 15, 2021 in the Woodlawn Chapel. Immediately following the service, there will be a committal service in the mausoleum.