On Monday, November 14, 2016, Gwen Ifill left us for a better place.  The list of accolades and accomplishments  are too numerous to list. The Legacy Obituary  reads,

“a veteran newspaper and television journalist who served as moderator and managing editor of the Public Broadcasting Service’s talk show “Washington Week. She was 61. Ifill also co-anchored the “PBS NewsHour” with Judy Woodruff.”

She was the first black woman to moderate a presidential debate.  She was a classy woman!  I will not say that she was a class act because she was not ACTING.  A consummate professional through and through.  Did I know her personally?  No I did not have the good fortune to meet her but the sincerity and honesty that radiated through her reporting made you believe anything she said.  To me, Gwen Ifill was of the Walter Cronkite caliber.

How did she affect me though?  When I read that she passed, tears came immediately and not in a slow manner.  It was as if a special aunt of mine who gave me special advice whenever I needed it most was no longer going to be there to advise me in the hard times.  That special person whose very presence made you want to aspire to something greater.  Gwen Ifill, to me, was that individual who, when nothing else around you would, gave you HOPE for better.  I did not realize she meant that much to me until the reality of my no longer seeing her on PBS or hearing her live on NPR set in.  Oh sure, I can listen to her on tape/CD but it won’t be the same.

Yes, we can say that a legend is gone or a trailblazer has walked into the sunset. I will simply say that although we never met, a future friend waits for me in heaven.  Good night and God bless Gwen.

~~~~Malinda Gwyn~~~~