Walter Cronkite

It's well-known in the circle of obituary writing that many tributes arrive pre-written, based on the expected death of the subject. Such was undoubtably the case with my 92 year old uncle, Walter. Many of the obits were exquisitely well cooked or even over-cooked, if you ask me. This is my challenge with celebituary. Being three or four people, but mostly me, there really isn't the chance to write these things in advance. But, I sort of like the reactionary ethos of celebituary. It carries that little "punch in the stomach" you feel when, out of nowhere, you hear that someone you knew has passed on. Here's one of my favorite jokes to play on people:

"Did you hear Elton John died? ... Me neither."

And pranks is where I will start in my recollection of Walter Cronkite. Who remembers the notorious "Walter Cronkite Spit in My Food?" web site? I sure do. It came out in the early early days of the Web, and to me, it was one of the early examples of the audacious "you gotta see this" potential of Internet content. While, I liked it very much, Uncle Walter was not amused. Legal action ensued and the site no longer exists. A free celebituary T-Shirt to anyone who can find artifacts to the original site.

So, the whole irony about this is that due in part to these shenanigans, Mr. Cronkite was not a fan of internet journalism. So, here I am, some random guy in Fairfield, CT, getting the last word on Walter Cronkite. Well, that's the way it is.

The most personal connection I have with this icon is actually via my wife, Jennifer, who saw the guy speak while attending his j-school in Tempe.

"Did you meet him?"

"No."

"...it was a really big auditorium."

So, her relationship with Cronkite is basically like my relationship with Michael Hutchence of INXS. Well, I'll take it. But, unlike a rock star or a president or a rock star president, I think many of us feel like we know Walter, given his regular dinnertime appearance in all of our homes. He sort of came into prominence before cable's 500 channels, so his relevance is magnified. For me, though, my fondest Cronkite memory is one that I never experienced first hand. That Kennedy reaction was so real, so human. Like my own uncle showing up at the door with bad news.