Matthew D. Graham-Melville

Matthew Darren Graham-Melville, né Matthew D. Melville, passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 29, 2026, at Harris Hill Center in Concord, NH.

Born January 9, 1970, in Hackensack, NJ, the son of Brian and Diane Christeson, Matt was the husband of Andrea Graham-Melville, married on May 16, 1997, in Chichester, NH.

Matt attended secondary school at Admiral Farragut Academy in New Jersey, followed by his military service in the Army. After a medical-based discharge he attended Plymouth State University, where he got a BS in Psychology and a BA in Computer Information systems. He worked in IT until he began losing his vision.

As a newly blind, disabled man, Matt renewed his interest in Psychology, with a focus on disability support. He went back to school in his forties where he received his master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the University of Texas, El Paso. While working on his degree, Matt also got an autism diagnosis in 2017 at age 47.

He described it as the most liberating thing to ever happen to him. Matt recognized his autism as a major advantage on many fronts and became a strong autistic advocate. When his failing health prevented him from starting a new career as a Rehabilitation Counselor, he used his education instead to write a book (coming out next year) about his experiences growing up undiagnosed autistic.

Already blinded and disabled by diabetes, Matt suffered a major health crisis in 2022 that resulted in a systemic infection, a cardiac condition, and several major strokes. Any one of his conditions would have killed a typical patient, but Matt never did what people expected--especially his doctors. He survived them all simultaneously and eventually recovered enough to return home to his family's care. He lived to amuse, delight, and gleefully exasperate his loving (and long-suffering) family for four more years.

Matt had a lifelong love of food and cooking. When the medical professionals told him he'd never eat food by mouth again, he had two months of therapy at home and regained his ability to eat and swallow. Food again became his favorite hobby and greatest joy…especially when his caregivers tired of preparing the same meal for him every day and he would just smirk at their objections and ask for it again, every day for months, before he moved on to a new "same food."

Once home, Matt worked hard and regained much of his strength. Besides food, the other joy of his life was going to twice-weekly activities therapy at Project Walk in Stratham, NH. He made great strides toward walking again, until very recent circumstances required his return to a long-term care center where all his progress regrettably ceased and the doctors found a new cardiac condition that abruptly ended his life.

A follower of Jesus for 30 years, Matt has had several different church affiliations, but he found the various denominations too limiting. He preferred to call himself an "unlabeled Christian" because as he said, "Jesus is the common denominator and the only thing that matters."

Matt also enjoyed bicycling, traveling, and had a proudly autistic love of trains. He liked a wide variety of musical styles and sang with the Granite Statesmen barbershop group for a brief time. Never one to do the expected, Matt enjoyed bursting into song in random places where people don't usually sing.

He never feared trying new things or traveling to new places. In addition to having a strong sense of adventure and a dry, wicked sense of humor, Matt was an intellectual: an avid reader, an accomplished writer and educator, and a caring and effective counselor.

He was also an excellent friend, a loving and dedicated father, and a profoundly devoted husband. He will be deeply missed by many.

Matt is predeceased by his father, Brian Arthur Christeson, his father-in-law Thomas Edward Graham, his biological father, Raymond Earl Melville (aka Erich Angell), his uncle Chuck Billé Sr., uncle William, his aunt Lorene "Laurie" Graham, and cousins Douglas and Scott Graham.

Matt is survived by his mother, Diane Christeson (née Bille), wife Andrea Graham-Melville, twin brother David A. "Moose" Melville, son Tavis C. Graham-Melville, mother-in-law Eleanor Graham, aunt Frances and uncle Richard Thibodeau, uncle Thomas Billé Jr., as well as brothers-in-law Tom II, Bruce, and David Graham, and sisters-in-law Penny and Sharon Graham. Surviving cousins include Mark, Stephen, Tricia, and Daniel Thibodeau; Karri-Anne, Jason, and Chuck Billé (Jr.), Jennifer Davis; and Michael Billé. Additional cousins Gary Tewksbury, Kerry and James Graham, Diane Lehman, Rhonda Houston, Linda Johnson, Rick Green, and Barbara Witham also survive him.

A memorial gathering will take place 5:30-7:30 PM on “Black Friday,” November 27, 2026, at Cremation Society of NH, 172 King St, Boscawen, NH 03303. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, November 28, 2026, at the Restoration Foursquare Church (formerly United Baptist Church), 39 Fayette St. Concord, NH 03301. Rev. Brian Foreman of Cornerstone Community Church will officiate. All friends and family are invited to attend.

Interment will be in the spring at the Head Cemetery in Hooksett, NH.

To view Matthew ’s Online Tribute, send condolences to the family, or for more information, visit www.csnh.com.