I feel like I've lost a member of the family. I never had the opportunity to meet Bill Carlson, but I watched him every weekday at noon. Very few local news anchors stay in one market for more than 50 years, and even fewer are admired more than Carlson.

Our state has had some great radio and TV personalities -- Cedric Adams, Dave Moore, etc., but I will remember Bill Carlson the most.

When Bill announced that he was going south for some alternative treatment for his prostate cancer, he said he would do the noon news when he returned. I never saw Bill do another newscast. After Carlson's death, I learned how the man born in Thief River Falls touched so many lives. The biggest names in Hollywood, which he interviewed, still remember him by name. He taught the interns at WCCO and made them feel at home. He worried about fellow WCCO anchor Don Shelby's health just one day before Carlson lost his battle with cancer.

In a world where we hear of so many terrible people and so many others trying to make themselves look good, Carlson didn't need to prove anything to anybody. He lived the good life by example.

We may be fortunate enough to have someone as great as Bill Carlson doing the news again someday, but nobody will ever be able to replace him. Carlson made the noon news in a big city feel like having afternoon coffee with the next-door neighbor.

JERRY T. JOHNSON, BLOOMINGTON