Melvin’s Place of BBQ is the kind of place you never forget.

Melvin’s serves transcendent barbecue and is housed in a funky unmarked former garage across from Huntsville’s Glenwood Cemetery. The restaurant was run by a namesake proprietor, Melvin Rogers Jr. Rogers cooked on an ancient looking trailer grill parked in the driveway, and his kind thoughtful manner turned longtime customers into friends.

Unfortunately, Rogers died Oct. 28. He was 72 and resided in Harvest.

In addition to being a talented barbecue cook, Rogers enjoyed blues and gospel music and sang in a vocal group with his siblings called the Rogers Brothers. He kept a framed poem his daughter had written him on the wall at his barbecue restaurant.

After my first visit to Melvin’s in 2013, I raved about the tender delicious barbecued ribs, pulled pork and chicken and unique experience there, in a story for AL.com. In 2015, Melvin’s Rib Plate was cited as one of “25 essential meals from Huntsville restaurants.” And this September, Melvin’s Place of BBQ was picked for “The ultimate Huntsville weekend: 30 local must-do’s.” When my journalist friend from Detroit visited Huntsville last spring, took him to Melvin’s and since then it’s what he brings up most about Huntsville when we talk on the phone now.

Melvin’s Place of BBQ is exactly the type of joint in-the-know locals pride themselves on knowing and supporting.

"We have been friends for years," Debbie Dixon, a local music promoter, says of Rogers. "He recently had me some of his chicken while my mom was having surgery in Birmingham. He was a sweet kindhearted soul. I will miss him and his stories. Just talked with him the other night and he was laughing and cutting up."

Visitation for Rogers will be held 11 a.m. Nov. 3 at Berryhill Funeral Home, address 2305 Memorial Parkway N.W., followed by a 12 p.m. memorial service.

AL.com is in the process of reaching out for more information regarding Rogers and the status of Melvin’s Place of BBQ, located at 2315 Hall Ave. N.W. This story will be updated at that time.