Walter and Me…

I don’t pretend to make a connection between Walter and wine. I just cannot do it–except in my own life.  My passions include wine and writing and Walter Cronkite is one of the reasons I became a journalist.

I met Walter Cronkite’s wife in 1982. I was standing in the middle of the desert on a November day with my good friend Kim Neufeld and his father, Quent. Quent was a producer for CBS News for a number of years and he was one of the finest men I knew. My dad was very fond of him and his son, Kim, and I were very close. Heck, I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time with Kim.

I met Cronkite’s wife standing next to what was essentially an RV upon the roof of which sat Mrs. Cronkite’s husband and other CBS news folks, including Mr. Neufeld. We were there for the second landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia at Edwards Air Force Base, November 16, 1982.

Mrs. Cronkite was the epitome of “down to earth.” It was cold in the desert that morning, very cold, actually. Mrs. Cronkite wasn’t worried, she said, because Walter was wearing his longjohns. It was a moment of candor that I realized then, at 17, I was privy to and it was also a moment that was powerful for me.

Aside from a deep and abiding fascination with aviation, that continues to this day, I also had a deep and abiding fascination for journalism which is the one I followed into a career. Walter Cronkite had a deep personal impact on me.

I remember hearing him every night in my home throughout my childhood as my father watched the news each evening. I remember reading Skywalking by Dale Pollock, a book about George Lucas, another personal hero of mine, and how Lucas during the 70’s, watched the CBS evening news every night. He loved watching Cronkite. I think most Americans did.

When I heard tonight that Mr. Cronkite had died, I was a-flood with emotions. From my fascination with the man and what he represented in honesty, sincerity and focus—to his retirement and final admission of his liberal bias that, regardless of what TV networks claim, really opened the flood gates of the bias in American media, Cronkite was an American icon; indeed, he was America for a time.

He lived a full and good life and I have no doubt that he was a good man. What I know for sure is that as a member of the “new media,” I owe much to Mr. Cronkite on both a personal and professional level. From his true and serious attempt to be impartial to his being honored with “the most trusted man in America” moniker, Walter Cronkite was America, for better, worse and everything in between. I’m just honored that, while I never met him personally, I got a chance to see him work up close and when his wife told me he was wearing longjohns, I was made aware that he was a human being. “He was a man, all in all. I shall never look on his like again…”