Respectful, hard-working — that’s the way Cronkite was, Las Vegan recalls

Peggy Occhipinti is embarrassed to tell her funny story about the first day she worked with Walter Cronkite, yet it says more about his demand for perfection and his work ethic than it does about his use of a singular foul word.

Today, Occhipinti is a paralegal at Lionel Sawyer & Collins, but in 1972 she was a 22-year-old college graduate with a music major looking for a job in New York City. Looking up at Black Rock, the building that houses CBS, she and her roommate thought there had to be two jobs waiting inside.

They were right. Her roommate was hired on the "Captain Kangaroo Show" while Occhipinti was hired to work on the Nielsen ratings. Boring.

After a while, she asked for a transfer. So what would she like to do? Her answer was instant: Work with Walter Cronkite on the "CBS Evening News."

"Openings don't come up for that show. Sorry, that's not going to happen," Occhipinti was told. Two days later, there was an opening for an entry-level job as production assistant for Cronkite's 6:30 p.m. live newscast.

There were scads of applicants, and personnel sent her for an interview, figuring she wouldn't get the job but it would be a good experience.

Except, she got the job.

Occhipinti became one of the show's three production assistants stationed in an office next to Cronkite's, right across from the on-air news desk. Her duties included typing stories called in by reporters, some editing and "back timing" the show. Occhipinti still has her CBS stopwatch used to time how long a story lasted, because even a few seconds difference in each story would mess up whether the show ended on time, felt short or went unacceptably long.

"Walter was fastidious about overseeing everything," Occhipinti recalled soon after his death July 17 at age 92. He edited his own work and five minutes before a show might still be making changes.

"That first night, I'll never forget how scared I was. He was very friendly, very professional, but you knew he wanted to get things right. That was the way he was."

She was in the executive producer's office, where they always watched the newscast, and, after the first break, a red-faced and enraged Cronkite turned and yelled, "Who the (expletive)" failed to make a change he wanted?

"Walter Cronkite, who was my idol, said (expletive). I'll never forget that. He used language I'd rarely heard," Occhipinti recalled. Remember, she'd grown up sheltered in Dunmore, Pa.

Later she found out profanity was a rarity for the man who treated staff with respect and courtesy. She still has the nesting dolls he brought her from a trip to Russia, as well as photos of the two of them in the office and at her going-away party.

Even though Occhipinti loved her job, after two years, wanderlust struck. She decided to quit.

She was accepted into the Air Force but changed her mind. Instead, she moved to California to work in public relations at a hospital. Then back to Pennsylvania to teach music. Next she waitressed in California. In 1978, she moved to Las Vegas and dealt for three years. Then it was back to California for a paralegal program at UCLA. In 1983, she returned to Las Vegas to finally take root as a paralegal at Lionel Sawyer.

"Had I not left when I did, I probably could have advanced at CBS," Occhipinti said regretfully.

While it's a stretch to say Cronkite mentored her, Occhipinti said, "He taught me that no matter how important you are, no matter how famous you might be, if you love what you do, you get your hands dirty in the trenches."

Cronkite never showed up at the last minute, ready to rip and read. He spent a lot of time alone in his office, working the phones and writing. Cronkite deserved the credit and the accolades because he did the work, and he was never arrogant, never a prima donna, she recalled.

Occhipinti, who worked 10-hour days with Cronkite for almost two years, never lost respect for him.

What greater praise is there for anyone, because how someone treats people who are not bigwigs reveals their true nature.

Cronkite's nature and work ethic were as true as they come.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.