Many young people meet a legend. Most are starstruck, nervous, even afraid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not Christine Lund. She married the legend, political cartoonist Bill Mauldin, who was 27 years her senior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mauldin won the first of his two Pulitzer Prizes in 1945, before Lund was born. Age didn\u2019t divide them, at least not in the beginning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A newspaperwoman herself, she appreciated his genius and understood the demands of his work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their marriage lasted 24 years in Santa Fe and produced a daughter and a son before they divorced. Mauldin had six other sons from two previous marriages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His private life was limited because of his high-profile job. Mauldin won admirers and tormented political enemies with cartoons that ranged from biting to poignant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His life is reexamined in the documentary, Bill Mauldin: If It\u2019s Big, Hit It<\/em>. The movie screened Thursday night as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival at the Center for Contemporary Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film\u2019s title refers to delivering the big story in one powerful panel. It comes from Mauldin\u2019s professional credo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lund, now 73, saw his intensity from close range. She arrived as a summer intern at the old Chicago Daily News<\/em> in 1969 when Mauldin was a nationally syndicated star at the Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>. The newspapers were editorial rivals but shared the same building and owner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n