PORTLAND, Maine — You may be familiar with the term "work spouse." It refers to people who depend upon one another day after day, who can finish one another's thoughts and read the unspoken cues that help you get the job done. The validity of that notion was brought home to me a number of years ago when a little girl knocked on my door at Halloween. She looked at me, looked at my wife, and looked back at me again and asked, "Where's Cindy Williams?"
It was one of the luckiest breaks of my career when Cindy joined the NewsCenter6 anchor team. That was in January of 1990 — just a couple of weeks shy of 32 years ago. Her warmth and sensitivity quickly became evident. Her kindness, too, is proven by the fact that she always laughs at my jokes.
Cindy is such a natural that she made the news anchor's job of forging a connection with viewers look easy.
But having the skills doesn't mean you don't have to put in the work too, and anybody who focused only on Cindy's looks and personality missed how smart and hardworking she is.
I don't want to give the impression that she is perfect. That would be boring. Cindy will admit that she has issues with punctuality. The producers, directors and I learned to have faith that she would appear before the red light comes on. But that's OK because Cindy is worth waiting for.
The decades we have spent together have created a bond that feels comfortable between the two of us and with the people who tune in to watch every night.
I know viewers will miss her, but not as much as her work spouse will.
On the other hand, I get custody of our shared parking space. Which is nice.
Cindy Williams over the years
NEWS CENTER Maine has been sharing goodbye messages and tributes to Cindy in our newscasts all week. Watch them below or on our YouTube channel.