Correspondent of 60 Minutes says Estonian teacher saved his life
24.11.2009, 13:30
Byron Pitts who is a correspondent for news programme 60 Minutes says he cannot thank enough an Estonian, Ülle Lewes.
Eesti Ekspress weekly quotes Pitts saying in his memoirs “Step Out of Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges” that Estonian Ülle Lewes who was English language professor in the Ohio Wesleyan University saved his life.
Pitts writes in the memoires that were released September 29 that he had a major speech impediment as a child and was unable to read at the age 12. He calls Lewes an Estonian angel and say that it was Lewes who urged him to continue his studies while several other professors said that he was not university material and was wasting taxpayer money.
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Pitts writes that Lewes helped him for four years to overcome academic obstacles and without her he would have never become a journalist.
“She was a child of World War II and knew what difficulties mean,” wrote Pitts. “She helped me and become my unofficial councellor.”
Pitts was one of CBS News' lead reporters during the Sept. 11 attacks and won a national Emmy award for his coverage. As an embedded reporter covering the Iraq War, he was recognized for his work under fire within minutes of the fall of the Saddam statue. Other major stories covered by Pitts include Hurricane Katrina, the war in Afghanistan, the military buildup in Kuwait, the Florida fires, the Elian Gonzalez story, the Florida Presidential recount, the mudslides in Central America and the refugee crisis in Kosovo.
Pitts other awards include a national Emmy Award for his coverage of the Chicago train wreck in 1999 and a National Association of Black Journalists Award. He is also the recipient of four Associated Press Awards and six regional Emmy Awards.