Mr. Rogers- Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood

United States
May 29, 2007 12:55pm CST
I have heard so many negative stories about Fred Rogers in the past. Ones about him being gay, being a pedophile and more. Today I happened to see his show and decided that I would look him up. I found a lot of info, including some an urban legend about him being a sniper in some war. The factual information that I found was more interesting and made me respect him a little more. He was an only child until his parents adopted a little girl, Elaine when he was 11. They also became foster parents to a black teenager. Fred ended up considering him a big brother. When he grew up he went to college where he majored in music composition. He had planned on attending seminary school after he graduated. He met his wife, Sara while in college and married her after he was finished school. They had two sons. After he saw tv for the first time he decided that instead of seminary school he wanted to work in television. He actually claimed to hate tv and wanted to do it to make it a better place for people to learn. During his tv career he created most of the characters for his show, "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood". Queen Sara Saturday was named after his wife, Lady Elaine Fairchild, after his sister. Eventually he carried most of his characters and set pieces to create the show that he starred in. He was a strong advocate for the education and welfare of children during his lifetime. He created a company to produce Mr. Rogers Neighbor and now that company, FCI (Family Communications, INC.) developed and produces lots of childrens programs and educational shows. He promoted love and acceptance of everyone, yet in death his loved ones had to deal with half a dozen anti-gay protestors arguing his teachings about tolerance and acceptance. Around 150 gay rights advocates and peace groups marched in counter-protest, singing songs from his show. I have to say that after reading all that I have about him, I don't think he was such a bad guy after all. In fact, it would be nice to have more people like him around.
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