How befriending Mister Rogers’ widow allowed me to learn the true meaning of his legacy

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Making the most of a beautiful day with Mrs. Rogers. At 91, Joanne Rogers tends to the legacy of her late husband, known to generations as Mister Rogers. But she doesn't want him put on a pedestal, even with Tom Hanks playing him in a movie, and she tells a reporter why.

“When Fred died, she wasn’t going to step in to be Mister Rogers, but she was going to step in,” said Bill Isler, who served as the president and CEO of Fred’s company for nearly three decades and is so close to the family that he named his two springer spaniels “Fred” and “Joanne.” “I think she is incredibly comfortable with it. They were married for over 50 years and raised two sons. Fred relied on Joanne.

That winter, she wrote to me saying she hoped to meet me in L.A. — “your neighborhood,” as she called it — where she was planning to fly if “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was nominated for an Academy Award. When the documentary was snubbed she sent an update, noting the news was “disappointing and surprising,” but that “we just need to concentrate on the doc’s created mission — Fred’s legacy — and be grateful that can continue well beyond [the Oscars].

“One day I was taking the elevator in the hotel and a guy got on and said, ‘Mr. Hanks, how is filming going? Are you enjoying your time here in Pittsburgh?’” the actor said. “I said, ‘Very much, and I must say, Pittsburgh is a great city.’ He said, ‘Thank you, I have to agree.’ And then before I got off at my floor, he said to me, ‘You know, we take Mister Rogers very seriously in Pittsburgh.’ I said, ‘I am aware of that.’ That was not a fan saying ‘Oh, my gosh’ or anything like that.

“She’s understanding of the fact that she is 91 — she doesn’t drive at night or drive to Florida anymore,” said Isler, who had come to Joanne’s apartment to greet me. “But we go on road trips, and she’s great in a car — a lot of fun. Most of Joanne’s friends are younger than she is — not that she doesn’t have friends her own age. I have not noticed her slow down.”

“Something about ‘Watch out, buster!’ And I’ve never in my life said ‘buster’ to anybody,” she said with a laugh. Her only other note? She thought Plunkett’s wig was bad.

 

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Can you say 'paywall'?

😀😀😀

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Joanne Rogers needs to indulge us. We are having a terrible time with Trump and his sycophants. We need a hero.

He was a teacher. Sometimes teachers know what to do, even if they don't do it all that way themselves. There is no doubt we can teach others to be better than ourselves, as long as we are honest about our own faults. He is a standard that doesn't exist many places today.

I get this, If Mr Rogers was better than anyone else ever could be it, Why should I even try

He is who he is remembered to be. I’ve seen nothing that says he shouldn’t be revered. But he should be revered as a model of who he knew we all could be. He failed. We fail. But as long as we’re kind above all else, it’ll be ok.

ABeautifulDay AmyKinLA Just watched this movie starring tomhanks. Wow amazing bravo. Honestly I missed the honesty the compassion the moral compass in life. This man this saint MrRogers MrRogers was and ever will be one of the last true heart filled men on the planet. If only everyone we like him.

ABeautifulDay AmyKinLA 🙂

TomHanks Where WILL the profits from the Christian-Based movie be distributed? After all, it’s her husbands story hands down.

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