Charles Kuralt - paying dividends
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| Sat, 05-07-2005 - 1:10pm |
All, I ran across this article - okay I was looking for it. I had heard Charles Kuralt ("On the Road" on Sunday morning) had a long time affair and I wanted to know more.
What struck me the hardest was this part of the (below) article:
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"She split up with Kuralt in 1989 after some 20 years, she said, when she realized he wouldn't leave Mrs. K."
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20 years!!! This is a true example of a MM that paid fairly high dividends throughout the years to keep her there (houses etc). In Shannon's case I'm guessing she had her kids and liked that he helped support them (if she didn't have kids and wanted some I'm guessing she would have given up before 20 years).
I also wonder about this: It said somewhere while I was reading that Charles Kuralt died in 1997, his wife found out then about the A, and then his wife died in 1999. I bet Shannon wonders if he had continued to live - but the wife had died in 1999 - would he have finally married her? (in Prince Charles case he did finally marry the OW - which still amazes me). BTW, how horrible for the W... talk about no closure - she couldn't even get the last word in.
Any one else have thoughts about this?
WIP
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March 25, 2000
KICKING THE WIDOW KURALT
After CBS "On the Road'' correspondent Charles Kuralt died at age 62 in 1997, his widow, Suzanne "Petie'' Baird Kuralt, got a few surprises. She found out her husband had had a two-decade affair with a woman named Patricia Shannon, according to a brief filed by Mrs. K's attorney, Todd Hillier, when Shannon showed up at the funeral with a letter from Kuralt.
As if that wasn't bad enough, she also found out that her husband had given Shannon hundreds of thousands of dollars, a cabin in Montana, and a cottage in Ireland. And based on the letter, Shannon would sue to get another 89 acres, valued at $600,000, adjacent to the Montana home.
And her husband was already dead, so she couldn't make him wish he were.
That's what you call a raw deal.
Mrs. Kuralt died last year, thus, she missed what would have been yet another kick in the stomach this week. In 1998, a district judge ruled the property belonged to Kuralt's estate, but the Montana Supreme Court overturned the ruling. Wednesday, Judge John Christiansen ruled that because Kuralt wrote a letter to Shannon 16 days before he died that said he wanted her to inherit the land, Shannon should get it. It didn't matter that Kuralt's notarized will had left the land to his wife and two daughters from a previous marriage.
Shannon's lawyers released a statement to the Associated Press. She said, "I hope that the wounds of these past months can begin to be healed, and that we can now celebrate Charles' life the way he would have wanted us to.''
If you ask me, Charles got a little too much of what he wanted when he was alive, so stuff what he wants now. Besides, one could argue that if Kuralt had intended to give her the land, he would have done so when he arranged a sham sale of the cabin and 20 acres to Shannon. And it's clear he wouldn't have wanted the Missus to find out about Shannon.
Sympathetic accounts have marveled at the avuncular Kuralt's double life. Men chuckle and crow about his heretofore unsuspected prowess. Methinks that if Mrs. Kuralt had an affair, gave a fortune to her lover, and died leaving her husband with a nasty bit of news and a lawsuit, swells at the water cooler wouldn't be rooting for Romeo to win in court.
Public reaction also might be different if Kuralt was your average traveling salesman, not Mr. On the Road.
Shannon, who has three children by a previous marriage, testified, "I considered, and I think he considered, and I know the children considered, that we were a family.'' Which would make her Kuralt's wife.
One little problem: Kuralt had a real wife, as Shannon well knew. (She split up with Kuralt in 1989 after some 20 years, she said, when she realized he wouldn't leave Mrs. K.) So, the best you could say is that they lived like bigamist and wife No. 2.
If she wanted to be in a position to inherit property, she should have gotten herself her own husband.
It should be noted that neither Montana, nor New York, where the Kuralts lived, are community property states. Too bad, because if they were, it would be clear that Kuralt during those many years was giving not only his own assets, but also his wife's to his mistress.
The judge's decision begs the question: If Kuralt had an affair with another almost-wife, and he wrote her a letter telling her he wanted to give her some land, would Mistress No. 2 qualify for a cut of the wife's inheritance, or Shannon's assets?
In his ruling, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported, Christiansen wrote, "Perhaps this is the final chapter in 'Charles Kuralt's America,' and as such, speaks volumes about Kuralt, Shannon, and their committed relationship and America.''
It does speak volumes, judge. It says that this country is quick to romanticize betrayal -- especially if the betrayer is a celebrity -- and quicker still to shortchange an already cheated wife.

A man's got to do what a man's got to do.
A woman must do what he can't.

MS20YEARS???? Kind of makes 9 & 12 seem a bit shabby - don't you think? ;)
Still.. properties, cars... perhaps I should stick around with xMM to see if I can get that gorgeous villa in Tuscany and that little Maserati I've had my eye on.....NOT!!! ROFLOL
Liz :)
Hey WIP,
Weird day today. I had decided to call MM and ask him to come to visit so we could talk. However he called me and I didn't answer cause I was in dr appt. Then I called him and he was in a meeting so he said he would call me back. Then he called back but my cell dropped out, then I called back and he was on the phone. Whew! So I texted him asking for him to call me as soon as he is free. On the off chance he won't come down here I have drafted a letter for him. I would really like someone else to look at it and let me know what they think. Unfortunately I don't have the guts to post it on the board. Is there any email addy I could send it to you on? Please...
Liz
ps. my addy is angeleye71825@hotmail.com