Long-time public radio reporter and producer, wonderful friend, loving mother, sister and partner, Melody Walker died of cancer at home on March 4, 2022.

She was 62 and lived in the Central West End neighborhood in Saint Louis, MO.

Melody came from many generations of pioneering Midwestern reporters and publishers. She started reporting at age 10 for her father, Hayes Walker III, who published the cattle magazine, The Hereford Journal.  

She became a radio reporter in Kansas City at the age of 16. Melody graduated from Barnard College with a degree in philosophy and, as a student, was asked by CBS-veteran Fred Friendly to work with him on a PBS series. Melody ran the news department at WKCR, Columbia University’s radio station, supervising a team of 40 reporters. She did everything from cover the UN General Assembly to produce live jazz broadcasts from clubs in the Morningside Heights neighborhood.

 Melody had a distinctive, award-winning career in public radio. As soon as she graduated from Barnard, she took her fluency in French and her journalism skills to Europe.

In the early 1980s, Melody reported from Paris for NPR, Deutsche Welle and Radio France, among others. She did stories on everything from terrorist attacks, to French politics, the champagne business, the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, to the Cannes Film Festival. While there, she was ‘discovered’ by a film producer and played Joan of Arc in a TV movie. Melody also produced various jazz and classical concerts in the US and Europe for distribution by Ofreidia, a French production company. 

Melody returned to the United States and became the lead producer of the Lenny Lopate Show at WNYC. In 1989, she was hired as the New York and, subsequently, Chicago bureau chief for the public radio business program Marketplace. During that time, she had her two kids, Kyle and Blair, who she subsequently raised in Chicago, Paris, New York and St. Louis.

“Melody was a gifted journalist with great story-telling skills and a sense of humor that brought a twinkle to the eyes and ears of everyone who enjoyed her reporting,” recalled founding Executive Producer Jim Russell. “I remember best her colorful reporting from France – hearing her was nearly as good as being there oneself.”

Melody also wrote and produced commentaries for Charles Osgood, the renowned personality at CBS Radio. She took pride in her one-on-one interviews with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos; Thomas Watson, the then-CEO of IBM and publisher Malcolm Forbes.

In Saint Louis, Melody handled marketing communication for Saint Louis University and the Olin Business School at Washington University. She returned to public radio briefly as the business and economics reporter for Saint Louis Public Radio. 

She balanced her professional accomplishments with civic duty. Melody was an officer and board member on the Central West End Association and STL Village, an aging-in-place service and advocacy organization.

Melody loved France and all things French, Halloween, dinner parties, perfect croissants, champagne, the Missouri Botanical Garden, maintaining her own garden and greenhouse, spying rabbits and butterflies. She was happiest in Paris and New York City. 

She is survived by her two children, Kyle Walker O’Brien, residing in Paris, and Blair Walker O’Brien, who lives in Manhattan; her partner, John Barth of St. Louis; her mother, Claudette; and by her sister, Hayley and brother in law Jack Rees of Kansas City. And, also Cooper, of Manhattan, the only dog she ever liked.

You can honor her life with donations to STL Village (https://stlvillage.org/donate-to-stlvillage/) or the Missouri Botanical Garden (https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/donate.aspx).