A good man.. may he rest in peace

I had a chance to work with him on four occasions. Each time while he was presenting the news while in Houston Texas. I was called to be his Teleprompt Operator. I have an interesting story that says a lot about the kind of man he was.

My Puerto Rican mother-in-law (who is a bit loopy) tells me to tell him that I am her "favorite" son in law. Of course this is not something I remotely consider bringing up in conversation, even if the situation was to be chatty, which it was not. Everyone was very busy that day, preparing the current stories of the day. I remember hearing him on the phone with New York, Beruit, just to mention a few calls. The local news celeberties where coming in and asking for his autograph. I was sitting in the corner waiting to do my 30 minutes of work, and trying to blend in with the wall paper.

I was told to report 4 hours before I was needed, just so they would not have to wonder where I was when the time came to go LIVE. After a couple of hours, I had a need which required a trip to the men's room. As I finished my business, and stood at the sink washing my hands, he comes in the door and approaches the sink next to me.

I have always felt the need to say something when in close proximity to another person, just to be polite. I guess I had not given enough preperation to the unlikely event that I would need to have "polite" conversation with a national news anchor. All that came from my mouth was "My mother-in-law wants you to know that I am her favorite son-in-law". The look on his face was one of confusion, of course, and his reply was gracious. He asked "do I know her?". I said "no, that is why it is so funny".

He laughed a gentle laugh and while we walked back to the work area, he asked me for her phone number. I was in shock that he was going to take time for his busy schedule to make an old woman very happy. She did not believe it was him at first, but his elequent Spanish convience her. She thought it was me playing a trick on her, but since I don't speak her native tougne, she knew he had to be the real deal. He spent a precious ten minutes chatting with an old Puerto Rican lady about life.

She talked about Mr. Peter Jennings calling her at home for over a year. We all morned his passing even more , for the moment he gave of himself in such a simple way.

May he Rest in Peace.

James

 

that's a sweet story..
thanks for posting this!!

 

That's really cool,
My respect for Mr. Peter Jennings.

 

Wow, thanks for posting this. It was a very nice story.

 

I will always remember the 6 O'Clock news after dinner, watching it with my dad. Even though I was young and didn't understand a lot of what was going on in the world I always looked up to Peter Jennings as a respected and distinguished man. I will always miss him, he was a great mentor to everyone!! You are lucky to have met him. Thanks for sharing!