A voice on the radio sent me on a trip down memory lane.
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Every December, several TV shows produce a segment on famous people that died in the past year, often sports figures, movie actors, singers, and politicians; people who had an impact in some way on many.
I have a little different take on people I’m missing in my life. Some famous, some not. Most not even related. Though none of them died last year, they each had an impact on my life.
Casey Kasem – I spend a lot of time in the car, heading to one meeting or another. I have satellite radio and am hooked on the seventies station, the era in which I went to middle school and high school. Casey’s countdown of Top 40 hits was a fixture in my teenage years and hearing “him” on the radio now whisks me back in time to hanging out with my friends.
Walter Cronkite was a loveable grandfather type. His oh so familiar voice on the evening news was comforting, even when the news wasn’t good. That is a trusted newsman.
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Dick Clark – From radio to TV, Dick Clark was another music icon, counting down the top hits every week in my living room. I would gladly fold laundry, a task I could do in front of the TV in order to watch the performances and the new dance craze of the week. You can still watch “his” New Year’s Eve show, but he is definitely missing.
Ben Bradlee – On a class journalism trip to Washington D.C., and New York City while in college, we had the honor of interviewing Ben Bradlee. Most of the questions our class asked him were about the Watergate break-in and cover-up, the coverage of which put him and The Washington Post in the national spotlight. There was an energy about him that was intense, yet reachable.
Walter Cronkite –This CBS News anchor was a loveable grandfather type, even back then. Talking with him was being in the presence of journalism royalty. He was truly a media icon. His oh so familiar voice on the evening news was comforting, even when the news wasn’t good. That is a trusted newsman.
My Grandpa – My father’s dad died just before my tenth birthday, but I was born on his. The best part of my early years was calling him to celebrate our special day. When I was six, I choked on a cough drop during one of his visits. He swooped me up, held me upside down and smacked me on the back and knocked the cough drop out. He would tell my parents that if I misbehaved, he would take off his belt or sandal to wallop me with. He was definitely all talk (or I was very good) and one of the sweetest men I ever knew. He smoked a pipe filled with cherry tobacco. While I’m not a fan of smoking, a whiff of cherry tobacco in a pipe will make me smile to this day. How I would have loved to know my grandfather today as an adult.
My Dad – The one I miss the most. The one whose shoes I stood on to dance. The one who taught me to drive, change a tire and the oil in my car and went back to pick up the gas cap for me when I left it at the gas station.
I was definitely a daddy’s girl.
Conversations about shopping and boys were always with mom, but if I wanted to talk about business or life; it was with Dad. In my teenage years, I spend a lot of time with him at a retail store he was the manager of and learned early on about the power of building relationships with customers.
He was a good man and loved my mother dearly. He showed me how a man should treat a woman – with kindness and respect.
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Dad loved to read, putter in his garden and watch game shows. He was a man of many puns, and laughter was a mainstay in our home.
He also liked to make furniture. I have a cabinet on casters with brass handles that used to hold liquor when I was a kid. Now it holds DVDs. He fashioned a beautiful rocking horse for my son as well as a small chair for him to sit in, and several adult size end tables. I love having treasures he created in my own home.
He was a good man and loved my mother dearly. He showed me how a man should treat a woman – with kindness and respect.
He suffered depression and rightly so when he was diagnosed with Leukemia and then developed Shingles. But I really began missing him years before he passed away as Alzheimer’s robbed him of his memory and logical mind.
Traveling down memory lane, thinking about the men who have had an impact on me reminds me to be more present with the men currently in my life, as memories are being made every day.
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Photo:Flickr/Ben Eekhof