Growing Older (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781507557426)

Hank Walter, 87, began his writing career with the World-Telegram and the Sun, a metropolitan daily in New York City. He served 10 years as a civil service, investigative, City Hall and political reporter/writer. While there, he was elected into the Inner Circle, an organization of past and present political news writers who mount an annual lampoon of City, State and national officials and politicians. The money raised by the black-tie event is distributed to some 80 local charities. He served as president of the Inner Circle in 1962, and is still active in the group. He worked a year as the spokesman for Commissioner John Carroll, head of a newly created city-wide Department of Highways. After that he spent six years as editorialist and writer/producer of social documentaries for WMCA-Radio when it was the musical home of the "WMCA Good Guys." He also served as the station's public affairs director. His documentaries have earned more than a dozen journalism awards for the station. Next, he worked for seven years for Abraham D. Beame, first as his spokesman when he was the City Comptroller, then as his researcher/speechwriter and special assistant when he was elected Mayor of New York City. After that, he was the speechwriter for Comptroller Harrison Goldin for 12 years. After his retirement from City service, he worked for two years as a researcher/speechwriter for corporate executives. Despite this record, he has always considered himself primarily as a poet, having written verse and poems, off and on, for more than 70 years. It has been said by one reviewer that, "his poetry has condensed clarity of thought and precision of description. A lifetime of word-smithing has produced four collections of thought-provoking and spirit-uplifting poems that offer a voyage of self-discovery to the reader." He and his wife have been married for 61 years. They have eight children, five children-in-law, ten grandchildren, one grandchild-in-law and one great grandchild.