1934-1997
They've been coming to say good-bye to Charles Kuralt.
Since he was buried a week ago, they've been stopping by Old Chapel Hill Cemetery,
much like the way folks in the South long have dropped in on old friends.
The nation joined Chapel Hill and North Carolina last week in saying good-bye to Kuralt.
About 1,600 people attended a celebration of Kuralt's life in Memorial Hall.
The South Building bell was rung for the Carolina graduate, benefactor and supporter.
Kuralt, with that voice of butterscotch, shared his wonder at the sights and sounds
that easily could be missed in a busy day.
He taught us to savor such things as the dusktime sight of owlets
learning to fly in the rafters of McCorkle Place,
and the way they rasped when calling to
each other.
Kuralt's special gift was his ability to reveal the best about people.
"Charles was a great teacher and America was his subject,"
said William
Friday, former UNC system president and a friend of Kuralt's.
One of Kuralt's last wishes, expressed in a letter to Friday, was that he be buried in Chapel Hill.
"I am only now beginning to appreciate the love I have for Chapel Hill,"
Kuralt said in a handwritten postscript in his letter.
Kuralt has been laid to rest on a hill,
just paces from a road that tumbles down the hillside and toward the coastal plain.
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