Walter Cronkite

Of all of the recent spate of celebrity deaths, and there seems to have been quite a few lately, I think the loss of Walter Cronkite actually hits me the hardest. To understand why, you would have to know I'm a news junkie. I have to know what is going on in the world. And I can attribute this to growing up in a "CBS" household. Every night it was Ray Wilson on the local news, followed by Walter Cronkite on the national news. I barely remember watching Apollo 11 on TV, but part of that memory is Walter Cronkite. Watching replays of the Apollo 11 coverage where he is speechless and amazed, I remember why I got interested in space in the first place. Growing up I was the geek who would take presidential voting polls on the elementary school playground (and I too am amazed that I never got my butt kicked), because of watching Walter Cronkite cover the party conventions back when they actually meant something. His last broadcast was an event that we would not miss. I even enjoyed his Saturday morning show, You Are There.

Basically, Walter Cronkite was a big part of my childhood, as I am sure he was for others of my generation. His voice, his demeanor and his honest delivery of the day's events forged the way for the anchormen and women who followed. While there are and will be great news people, there will never be another Walter Cronkite.