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Photo of the Day – Blue Bottles for Melinda Penkava-Smith

Published April 8, 2024

I, Bernie Harberts, did not use generative AI to write or illustrate this article. Spell check and grammar check, yes. AI, no.

This weekend I officiated the memorial service for my dear friend Melinda Penkava. She was an NPR host for Talk of the Nation (among many other NPR gigs), an amazing gardner, and co-founder with her husband Keith Smith of TownDock.net. I had the incredible fortune of working with Melinda where she became my mentor on interviewing people and all things garlic. One of her many claims to fame was the Blue Bottle Garden, from which we borrowed a few bottles - pictured here - to display at her ceremony.

I was honored to give the celebration of life talk at Melinda Penkava’s memorial this week in Oriental, North Carolina. An amazing woman, wife, NPR host and mentor to me. Thank you, Melinda, for teaching me how to interview people and teaching me that you can ask any question, just like you don’t have to answer one.

Read Melinda’s obituary about her incredibly full life – including the part about working on a pirate radio ship – here on TownDock.net.

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