As I was turning to CNN after watching Bill Mahor, the first notice I heard was "Walter Cronkite has died at age 92." A tear fell down my cheek.

He had retired two years before I was born, so he was not part of my evening news custom growing up. I am a Dan Rathers baby - LOL. But as I went through school, his name, clippings and statements were a constant in the modern American History classes. He was a legend who defined the epitome of an American journalist. His standards of class, directness and credibility are no longer a part of American news. His most famous broadcasts are still shown regularly because the quality that his delivery spoke to the average American.

It saddens me that the news now is not simple and honest as past productions are viewed nostalgically by eyes that were not there for the experience, but can feel the emotion of the time through his voice, his eyes and his words. We, the younger generation, learn so much of 20th century experience from him. I can only pray that this will continue to occur in classrooms and lecture halls across our great nation.

My mother cried when she called me to see if I had heard the news. To her, he was like an uncle filling her in on what was going on during his travels when she was young. He helped her shape her mind regarding the assasinations of the Kennedy's and Martin Luther King, the Moon Landing, the hoopla of Viet Nam and many other major issues and events as he did for so many others.

This loss is a great American being laid to rest. I could not let this moment pass without expressing my reverance and sincere bereavement knowing that we have lost another Great American. It will take a great reporter to fill his legacy. May he rest in peace.
Thank you for listening. I needed to express my condolences.

Courtney