Walter Cronkite & Russell Stover at rest in KC's Mt. Moriah Cemetery

[Music] hi welcome to another episode of History honors I've been waiting to come to this Cemetery for years Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City I'm here to visit what seems like an old friend I mean honestly I watched him so much on TV growing up in the 70s at six o'clock CBS that's the way it is that's how Walter Cronkite always ended his nightly broadcast I mean basically there's no cable TV service back then I mean the only news that we got was basically at six o'clock for 30 minutes you got what was the most important things and I think with 24-hour cable news Cycles they tend to focus on things that Walter Cronkite never would for example when you talk about crimes that happen across the country they seem like every crime committed in the country seems to be now a local crime everybody knows about kidnapping a murder in another Community back in the 60s and 70s unless it was a really horrendous event Walter Cronkite limited his coverage to national news when I come here to this grave I think of the many times that I watched him like the moon landing in 1969 Walter Cronkite was the one that everybody was watching just before Neil Armstrong to put on the moon and then I remembered the Watergate period Richard Nixon resignation Gerald Ford swearing in I tape the Gerald Ford swearing in on an audio tape and I remember that uh he talked about Gerald before taking the oath of office on August 9 1974 with his hand open to a passage of the Bible trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not on to your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him He will direct your paths I always remember that Walter cronky pointed that out but let's go take a look at where he is buried when I came driving up the lane down here behind a mausoleum I saw these flags here and I thought maybe somebody left him for Walter gronkite but it's another individual no less deserving World War II John Norman Allred and Walter cronkites over here buried with his wife and no flowers on his grave nobody's remembered him today man what a what an American icon and broadcasting he was actually the increment for CBS News from 19 years from 1962 to 1981 and here he is Walter L Cronkite November 4th 1916 to July 17 2009 and the grave of his wife Mary Maxwell January 25th 1916. she died first she died in 2005. they were married March 30th 1940. simple little marker here for Walter Cronkite he was often cited as the most trusted man in America in 1981 Jimmy Carter awarded him the presidential medal of freedom so from 1937 to 1981 he covered many things he covered World War II he covered the Nuremberg Trails Watergate Vietnam War the Iran hostage situation assassinations of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr and that of John Lennon couple months before the assassination crime kite got to go to Hyannis Port and interview John F Kennedy that's uh was a significant interview not long after that president went to Dallas and was assassinated so whenever you think of altered Cronkite sometimes you'll always think about the assassination of John F Kennedy and his coverage and one of the reports came out about a shooting Walter Cronkite was one of the first people on on the air and if you remember the coverage he got very emotional he was trying to give updates and it finally came out that President Kennedy had been assassinated Walter Cronkite visibly swallowed he he choked on his words he put his glasses back on and you could tell he was really upset because he was just interviewed John F Kennedy knew that he had two children and a beautiful loving wife and uh horrific from Dallas Texas The Flash apparently official President Kennedy died at 1 pm Central Standard Time two o'clock Eastern Standard Time some 38 minutes ago vice president Lyndon Johnson has left the hospital in Dallas but we do not know to where he has proceeded presumably he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the United States that coverage is kind of what put CBS on top of the ratings and they were up against David Brinkley and John Chancellor for a long time eventually Walter Cronkite in the CBS Evening News took over in just 50 minutes from now well within the hour the Moon is due to have visitors from another planet on July 20th 1969 Cronkite was virtually breathless when the moon landing was occurring he was with Wally the astronaut and he was rubbing his hands together with a smile and uttered oh boy when it finally turns out that the eagle had landed on the surface of the Moon oh boy oh boy we're gonna be busy for a minute while they say something I'm speechless man's dream in a nation's pledge have now been fulfilled the lunar age has begun the date's now indelible it's going to be remembered as long as man survives you'll also remember the Walter Cronkite retired he handed that job off to Dan Rather Dan Rather got the job this is what a transition of passing of the Baton a great broadcaster and gentleman Doug Edwards preceded me in this job and another Dan Rather will follow and anyway the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of journalists writers reporters editors producers and none of that will change and that's the way it is Friday March 6 1981. I'll be away on assignment and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years good night the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite dad rather still living in a I always find it interesting to see Tom Brokaw for example was the NBC guy about the same time that Dan Rather was on the air Tom Brokaw has got some serious health problems and he looks like just a fraction of the man he used to be of course dad rathers also aged quite a bit so when I was a kid I like to imitate famous people Richard Nixon I even imitated Walter grunt got to go this is Walter Cronkite reporting for CBS Evening News that's the way it is When I visit cemeteries I tend to think that there's bodies buried intact six feet below the surface especially under large markers such as the cronkites however I learned that Walter and Betsy chose to be cremated and that only their ashes lie underneath the large slab I learned some other interesting things about Walter Cronkite and his family Walter lived on Cape Cod and was skilled at sailing in his later years he was a friend in confidante of President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton his daughter Kathy Cronkite tried her hand at acting and was once cast for an episode of The Waltons TV series she also had a role in the TV movie The Trial of Billy Jack and tragically his grandson Peter Cronkite who was a student at Colby College in Waterville Maine committed suicide at the age of 22 in 2015. a lot of activity here today in the cemetery but you know I was thinking why was Walter Cronkite buried here at Mount Moriah Cemetery and I haven't researched this but I think I figured it out Arthur Maxwell right here had to be her father he lived from 1874 to 1949. and over here is Eva Maxwell 1872-1961. the parents of Mary Maxwell the wife of Walter Cronkite the death of his wife took a heavy emotional and physical toll on Cronkite yet he found a female companionship and Joanna Simon the older sister of singer Carly Simon both Found Love after their spouses passed away within months of each other in 2005. I don't know who Charlene Wicklund is but imagine the distinction of being buried next to Walter Cronkite with this couple over here Winifred and Lynn Craig buried right next to Walter and his wife so now I want to gain entry into the mausoleum up here and find the graves of I don't know that they're famous but you certainly know their product in fact the other day I was in CVS and I saw their candy on the Shelf and I've bought their candy before the silvers Russell Stover so here's the giant Mausoleum here at Mount Moriah Cemetery we're going to go in to look for The Grapes of the Stovers but just admire some of the uh statuary on top here it's got a very Egyptian theme here in the Midwest of the United States it's kind of cool isn't it that's something like you would see in Egypt but we're in the midwest the heartland of the country definitely has a Egyptian feel to it let's go up these steps here and see if it's open today yep it is this place definitely has a creep factor to it but it's pretty dark and there's two levels of it the catacombs if you can get past the creepy vibe in here those are pretty cool lamps here's the inside of the mostly I'm I mean between I say it's dark it is dark some of the areas of this are so dark you have to turn on the lights and it's a good thing that they are equipped with lights because it's very very dark in here in fact some of the some of the crypt areas are so dark let me show you so I think I have my light on um there's a light switch right here it allows you to see what's inside these Gates you can open up to yeah it's it's definitely one of the creepier places I've been to okay so this was a really hard one to find because I had to flip on the the lights but here's the grave of Russell Stover the candy guy 1888 to 1954 and his wife Clara Stover 1882 the 1975. and there's that famous signature that's on the box of candy very cool Russell's Bears the latency add Astra per aspra which is also the motto of Kansas that means to the Stars through difficulties John James Ingles coined the motto in 1861 stating quote the aspiration of Kansas is to reach the unattainable his dream is the realization of the impossible Russell and Clara Stover started out life together in 1911 on a large farm in Canada given to them as a wedding gift they failed at wheat farming so Russell entered the candy business in Minnesota and later in Chicago and Nebraska on July 31st 1921 Christian Nelson pitched the Russell Stover the idea of mass producing a chocolate-covered ice cream treat called the ice cream bar seven companies had rejected the idea because the bar easily melted Stover went into the partnership with Nelson with an idea he devised a formula for the Chocolate shell to harden Atop The Ice Cream they took out the stick making it an ice cream sandwich and renamed the ice cream bar as the Eskimo Pie which was patented on January 24th 22 demand for Eskimo pies were so great that the company licensed the formula to about 1500 manufacturers in exchange for a royalty of one penny per dozen sold the trade was marketed under the brand of Russell Stover company and in April 1922 the partners had received thirty thousand dollars a week in royalties in the first year other companies came up with ways to make similar ice cream pies and Stover Nelson spent about four thousand dollars a day in legal fees to defend their patent a battle which they ultimately lost in 1923 Russell Stover sold his share of the Eskimo Pie Company for twenty five thousand dollars and moved to Denver Colorado where he and Clara started a new company Mrs Stover's Bungalow candies operating out of Claire's kitchen the company made box chocolates in 1925 the couple opened a candy factory in Denver and another one in Kansas City Missouri where they also set up headquarters in 1931. in the 1940s the company changed its name to Russell Stover Candies when Russell Stover died in 1954 just five days after his 66th birthday the company was producing 11 million pounds of candy annually and selling its product through 40 Russell Stover shops and in about 2 000 department stores Clara continued running the company until she sold it in 1960 for seven and a half million dollars the buyer was Lewis Ward who had made the boxes that candy was contained in so I happen to know something about Clara Stover that not many people know did you know President Eisenhower had heart issues and he was hospitalized Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington DC and he spent the last couple years of his life in pretty bad Health his his heart was just really bad Clara Stover sent him a box of chocolates wrapped it he sent her a letter thanking her for it he said that he couldn't wait to spoil the packaging and break into it because chocolates were his favorite I know that because I am the letter that Clara sent to President Eisenhower got it on eBay probably about 10 years ago and I really enjoy owning that letter the Eisenhower letter of January 2nd 1968 was sent to the Stover Mansion which was literally funded by chocolate at 5805 Mission Drive in Mission Hills Kansas I contacted the Eisenhower Library to inquire if Russell Stover was related to Ida Stover Eisenhower's mother but nobody could find a connection the 25 room 7 bedroom mansion is still standing the Stovers bought the mansion in the early 1930s because it was in shambles and had been deserted for several years Russell purchased it for 32 500 Clara was worried about not having enough money to remodel it but those worries melted away with the blazing hot success of their chocolate business they hired a decorator from Chicago ordered chandeliers from Europe and it took five years to carpet the Mansion Russell died in 1954 but Clara continued to live in the Mansion until her death in 1975. pretty cool stained glass on the front doors still at the grape of Walter Cronkite I want to thank you for joining us on this episode of History Hunters and just out of tribute for old Walter I want to tell you this that's the way it is [Music] oh [Music] thank you

Channel: History Hunters

Views: 34,826

Keywords: History Hunters, Walter Cronkite, Russell Stover, Famous graves, Kansas City MO, jbenziggy, CBS Evening News, Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Kansas City

Id: IVWch95GehQ

Length: 16min 49sec (1009 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 06 2023