Last year, as you may recall, I was in Philadelphia and had hoped to visit Dave Garroway’s grave in Bala Cynwyd. As you may also recall, I didn’t make it there because of a rather hilarious navigational mix-up. (And if you don’t recall, or if you do recall but you just want to relive my humiliation, the post is here.)
As fate would have it, though, a couple weeks ago I had to get to the suburbs of Manhattan to meet with a network retiree friend. For various reasons, I decided to drive, which would also let me make a wider-ranging tour of it all. When my original plans fell through, I reworked them and ended up spending the night in Camden, right across the Delaware from Philadelphia. It was on the way home, and it let me do a little sightseeing while I was there. (The old RCA plant, anyone? The battleship New Jersey?) And, wouldn’t you know it, I’d have a little time the next day, so why not?
After all my errands were done on the New Jersey side, I dialed up the route on my phone’s navigation app and followed the instructions to the letter. Never mind, of course, that it was noontime traffic on I-76 through Philadelphia…I had a promise to keep. After a not-too-distant but still invigorating drive, I was going through the gates of Laurel Hill Cemetery. A little bit of a hike over, a little detective work, and there he was.
It was quietly powerful to stand there. “Quietly powerful” in one way because the cemetery isn’t that far away from the very busy freeway off to its east, yet is very effectively shielded by some significant greenery that keeps things peaceful. But it’s also quietly powerful, I think, because the site seems so humble, especially in a cemetery with so many big and ornate monuments to families of means. Here’s Dave Garroway, who at one time carried so much of the fortunes of NBC on his back, who was first behind the desk in the infancy of morning television and demonstrated how it could not only be appealing but a money maker…and he lies beneath this very simple grave marker, and you could very well miss this grave if you didn’t know what you were looking for. (Which is funny, since I walked right past it the first time around.)
If you’re ever in the area, it’s worth the few minutes to stop by and say hello. Please do. This may have been a little out of my way, but it was very much worth the trip.