Mel grew up on a ranch in Western South Dakota. He obtained his Undergraduate Degree from the South Dakota State University in 1952.

Upon graduation, he received a fellowship to Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, where he received an MPA in 1953.

Mel graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1956.

After practicing for a short period of time, he went on active duty with the United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps in the Fall of 1956 and was stationed with the Tort Section of the Litigation Division of the Army JAGC in the Pentagon until mid 1959. While stationed in the Pentagon, Mel pursued a Masters Degree at Georgetown University and received his Masters Degree in Law with emphasis on tax and estate planning in 1959. He was then appointed Assistant United District Attorney for the District of South Dakota where he served until he returned to private practice in Rapid City, South Dakota, in 1961. Mel has been full time in the private practice of law in Rapid City, South Dakota, since that time having practiced part of the time in the Costello Porter Law Firm and part of the time as an individual practitioner.

In recent years, Mel has been specializing in wills, probates, and estate planning.