The first thing I did after supper at night when I was a kid was watch the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. That should come as no surprise to anyone who understands my journalism background and career.
I always loved Cronkite's ending: "And that's the way it is..."
I used to say it in school and the other kids had no idea what I was talking about, though some of the teachers did, which explains why I was always called upon in social studies class to help explain Watergate or the fall of Vietnam or the oil embargo crisis.
I was the ultimate news junkie.
I loved watching Cronkite chronicle the war in Vietnam and my ears always widened when he gave the body count. I also remember him giving the news from his anchor's desk of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. from a Memphis hotel balcony and the Apollo 11 moon landing. I was just 7 years old during the latter. I was born in 1962, the first year Cronkite took to the airwaves as CBS' news anchor.
So it's somewhat fitting that Cronkite would pass on during the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. Over the years I've marveled at TV history programs highlighting Cronkite's coverage of the assassination of President Kennedy, where he briefly took off his thick black eyeglasses in reporting the news bulletin. Thanks to YouTube, I've seen it over and over.
And 11 years ago, I was so excited to win a silent auction for an autographed copy of Cronkite's hardcover book, "A Reporter's Life." The book was auctioned at a banquet in Boca Raton where I won two awards from the Florida Society of Professional Journalists: Second place in large newspapers in breaking news for "Deltona teen shot to death" and honorable mention in the James K. Batten Award for Outstanding Public Service for my weeklong series on "Life in Spring Hill."
These were among the many awards I've since received in my journalism career, and to this day, Walter Cronkite's influence remains with me.