Melanie Lynne Filko was born July 1, 1956 in St. Petersburg, Florida to George and Elizabeth Stevenson.
The family moved to Orlando in 1958 where Melanie attend Killarney Elementary, Lee Jr. High and Edgewater High.

In 1981 she married Charles Filko, whom she had known since moving to Orlando at age 2.

She graduated with honors from UCF in 1985 and began her software engineering career at the Kennedy Space Center. In 1991 she went to work for MicroDesign where she was instrumental in establishing the Universal Disk Format file system as the de facto recording standard for DVD and other media. She retired in 2004 and enjoyed a life full of music and outdoors.

She was an avid birder and defender of animals, a water and snow skier, and terrific cook.

She is survived by her husband of 37 years Charles; her brother Richard Stevenson; niece Meghan Martin and 3
children; grandniece Lily Moore; aunt Dorothy Walker; and uncle Kenneth Stevenson.