Monday, April 9, 2012

I wonder if you read this account by Todd Richissin, Urbandale Patch Regional Editor for Iowa, writng about the day he brought Mike Wallace close to tears. He knew Mike had another son Peter who fell to his death in 1962 while mountain climbing at age 19.

"During our interview, with Chris at his side, Mike recounted how he hadn’t heard from Peter, who had been hiking around Europe, so he tracked down the youth hostel where he’d been staying. People there told him Peter had planned to climb a mountain near the Gulf of Corinth.So, Mike hired a guide and a donkey and found himself riding to the top of a cliff. I could see pain appearing on Mike Wallace's face as he recounted this story, and I could have interjected something, anything, to ease things for him just a bit, but I didn't. I'm not sorry for that. It helped me get to know him.“We sat down to catch our breath, and we’re sitting there like this,” Mike Wallace told me, hunched over, forearms on his knees. “I looked down, and about 150 feet down we saw somebody – and there he was.”

Quite a story.

2 comments:

steve said...

That's an image of Mike Wallace that most people wouldn't have - of Iron Mike!

Eileen and John said...

That reminds me of the new movie, "The Way" with Martin Sheen and his son, Emilio Estevez. His son (in the movie) died on a long pilgrimage walk and Martin Sheen (the father in the movie) went on the walk in his place. It's a very good movie that's worth watching.