Remembering ‘The Heart Of NPR,’ Gary Smith : NPR

Longtime NPR Greeter and Client Services Coordinator Gary Smith passed away this week. For years, he sat at the reception desk at NPR’s Washington headquarters. Smith was a force field of good cheer; he was a big man who became the heart of NPR.

As I drove home, listening to Michele Norris talk about Gary Smith, I was moved by her description of a man who made greeting the often jetlagged or on-deadline visitors to the NPR building his number-one job. It seems that every week, Mr Smith always began his end-of-week greetings with “Happy Friday.”

Of course, at the end of the piece, Michele wished all of us, the listeners who’d never heard of Gary before, a very. happy. Friday. Her voice got husky, as clearly she had liked the man and wanted to pay tribute to his dedication to the art of making people feel welcome.

I’ll try to wish everyone a happy Friday every week, from now on. It seems like a good tradition to start.

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