by Maxwell King
“Where is your mother now?” I asked.
“She is in heaven,” he said. No sheepishness, no smile, no half-hearted apology for believing.
As so many had discovered before me, in person, Fred Rogers was just as he was on television: simple, childlike, earnest, and charming. I saw him only one other time: a year later, on the street, and we simply said hello. Not long afterward, he was suddenly gone—lost to cancer at too early an age.
I had come to appreciate Fred during my years in Pittsburgh; it seemed that almost everyone there had a deep understanding of his commitment to children and to the value of human kindness. But it wasn’t until five years later, when I was retiring from the Endowments, that I reconnected with his work and his world. At the same time as I was leaving Heinz, my term as chairman of the board of the National Council on Foundations was expiring. With two jobs ending at once, I was in a bit of a panic. When Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, chancellor of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, asked me to help with the establishment of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at the college, I joined up.
I made myself a student of Fred and his work. Over time, I came to appreciate that in addition to being one of the most important champions of early childhood education in America, Fred was a fascinating and admirable character in many ways. During the two years I spent as director of the center, I often talked with Douglas, and with Fred’s widow Joanne Rogers, about the need for a biography of Fred. They explained that while Fred was alive, he didn’t want a biography; he didn’t want attention to be on him instead of the children.
I pointed out that things were different now: If we were going to advance Fred’s legacy, we needed a biography.
Besides, the world needed to know the story of this extraordinary, important, and exemplary man. Finally, they acceded. And when they did, Joanne convinced me that I should take on the job of writing that biography. The project got underway when I stepped down as director of the center in 2010. One of the first things I did was to call David Black, the literary agent in New York. I knew David from my time at The Philadelphia Inquirer, when several of the writers at the paper had engaged him as their agent.
I went on for a while on the phone, telling David about my connection to the Rogers Center, and my hope to write a biography of Fred. Silence on the other end of the line. I continued, elaborating on my intended approach to the book. Silence.
Finally, I blurted out, “David, what’s the matter? This could be a good book, and I’m getting nothing back from you.”
David said he had been stunned into silence by the irony of getting a call about a Rogers biography. Ten years earlier, he had traveled to Pittsburgh with Tom Junod, the talented writer who had done an acclaimed profile of Fred in Esquire magazine in 1998. Black and Junod spent two hours with Rogers, trying desperately to get him to agree to have Junod write a biography. But Fred was adamant: He didn’t want the spotlight on himself.
A decade later, I popped back into David Black’s life to offer another chance at the Rogers story. Tom Junod’s story about his friendship with Rogers is now being made into a feature film starring Tom Hanks as Fred.
There are, essentially, two compelling reasons why I believe the reading public should care about Fred and his work: First, he recognized the critical importance of learning during the earliest years. No one better understood how essential it is for proper social, emotional, cognitive, and language development to take place in the first few years of life. And no one did more to convince a mass audience in America of the value of early education.
Second, he provided, and continues to provide, exemplary moral leadership. Fred Rogers advanced humanistic values because of his belief in Christianity, but his spirituality was completely eclectic; he found merit in all faiths and philosophies. His signature value was human kindness; he lived it and he preached it, to children, to their parents, to their teachers, to all of us everywhere who could take the time to listen.
Two organizations are dedicated to carrying on Fred’s work: the Fred Rogers Company (www.fredrogers.org), formerly Family Communications, Inc., which still produces superb children’s programming for television; and the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College (www.fredrogerscenter.org), which manages a broad series of programs to help parents, families, teachers, and media producers with the education and development of young children.
The Fred Rogers Company still leads the children’s television world with such programs as Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood and Peg + Cat. The company made a remarkable resurgence since Fred Rogers’s passing, and it is now again one of the leading producers of quality children’s media in the country.
The Fred Rogers Center, where I served as a senior fellow during the researching and writing of this book, was planned during the last few years of Fred’s life. By design, it is located at Saint Vincent in Latrobe, where Fred grew up. The college is committed to advancing Rogers’s legacy through the work of the center, which focuses on the uses of communications technology, language development, and early childhood education.
The center is committed to sustaining the most rigorous standards of programmatic excellence, just as Rogers was. He hoped that support for the center would come from across America, not only from charitable foundations, but also from individuals who appreciated his work and his standards. Information about the center’s work, and how to support it, can be found on its website.
Fred Rogers illuminates the way to integrity, respect, responsibility, fairness, and compassion, enshrined in most of the world’s religions and philosophies.
And of course: the children. Always, the children. Think first of the children, the lifeblood of our future.
As Fred Rogers summed it up: “Childhood is not just clowns and balloons. In fact, childhood goes to the very heart of who we all become.”
When Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air interviewed Fred Rogers in 1984, she concluded by asking him if he ever wanted to be a child again: “Do you ever wish you were five or ten or twelve?”
To which he replied: “Yes. But I’d like to be that with what I know now. And I think I’d like that because there are many significant people in my life that I have lost through death, and I’d like to be able to talk to them again, and tell them some things that I wasn’t able to tell them then. In fact, I’d like to be able to tell them, you are special.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To Patricia Mulcahy, whose artful editing, good counsel, and writing assistance have made all the difference in the quality of this book. Without her skill as an editor and as an accomplished storyteller, the manuscript for The Good Neighbor would have fallen short of its potential. I am grateful for her assistance and her friendship.
To the leaders of the Apex Foundation in Bellevue, Washington, for their early support, their deep appreciation for this project, and their encouragement. At the very beginning, chairs Bruce and Jolene McCaw and director Craig Stewart saw the potential of the biography to advance their deep commitment to early learning and good parenting. They supported research work for the project with a generous grant to the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College. And to the Buhl Foundation and the Fisher Fund, both in Pittsburgh, for their early and generous funding to the center in support of the research for this project.
To Joanne Rogers, whose sharp intelligence, patience, and good humor made our long interviews together such a joy. Without Joanne’s candor and hard work at bringing the details of Fred’s life and her life into vivid focus, this book could not be a success. Her wonderful strength of character made the process of getting to know her, and getting to know Fred through her, a complete joy.
To Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, chancellor of Saint Vincent College and Monastery, whose powerful understanding of Fred Rogers and his work has enriched this book, as it enriched the life and work of Rogers himself. The Archabbot’s commitment to Rogers’s legacy has been the force behind the Fred Rogers
Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media and a catalyst of this book project.
To Elaine Rogers Crozier, Fred’s beloved sister, Laney, who gave generously of her time and her strong recollections of her brother. Laney’s insightfulness and thoughtfulness, about Fred and Latrobe and the extended Rogers family, helped me understand the environment that shaped Rogers’s life. And to Fred Rogers’s sons, James and John, who provided great detail and clear thinking about their father and their family.
To Jamison Stoltz, whose passion for Fred Rogers’s story and great skill as an editor have helped me achieve a book that just may have a chance of being worthy of its subject. Jamison’s depth of engagement and understanding of good narrative have helped push this project to success.
To Alicia Tan, for her careful attention to detail as the manuscript moved from text to final book.
To copyeditor Jean Hartig, whose fine attention to style and detail helped greatly in shaping the final draft.
To David Black, whose unrelenting drive to improve this project, and to improve me as a writer, contributed in the most substantive ways toward our common goal of producing a worthy book. His talents as an agent and a critic have been invaluable to me.
To archivist Emily Uhrin of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College, who provided so much intelligent support and assistance for this project. Time and again, Emily pointed me in the right direction, gently warned me off the wrong direction, helped with research, and gave critical feedback at key moments.
To the staff members of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College who provided so much help, support, and important feedback throughout this process: Theresa Noel, Cindy Scarpo, Rita Catalano, Rick Fernandes, Junlei Li, Sandra Frye, and Karen Myers.
To Elizabeth Deane, who contributed importantly to this project at a time when it was in danger of stalling out. Elizabeth’s well-honed skill as an award-winning documentary filmmaker helped her fashion important contributions to key portions of this book.
To Mary Lowe Kennedy, who helped with editing and revising this manuscript early enough in the process to make a significant difference in approach, pushing the text from exposition to narrative in ways that have made it more compelling.
To Kathryn Klawinski and Teresa Noel of the Fred Rogers Center at Saint Vincent College, whose thoughtful help with organizing and verifying footnotes for this book is much appreciated.
To my wife, Margaret Ann, and my sons, Ned and Will, for all their support and intelligent feedback on this project over such a long period of time.
To all those who have given freely and generously of their time to recollecting the power of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Fred Rogers: Elizabeth Seamans, Joe Seamans, Eliot Daley, Basil Cox, Margy Whitmer, Hedda Sharapan, David Newell, Bill Isler, Betty Aberlin, Chuck Aber, Cathy Droz, Margot Woodwell, Elaine Lynch, Joan Ganz Cooney, Roberta Schomburg, Rev. Clark Kerr, James R. Okonak, Linda McKenna Boxx, Jane Werner, Patricia Neeper, Ed “Yogi” Showalter, Peggy Moberg McFeaters, Anita Lavin Manoli, Richard “Puffy” Jim, Rudolph Prohaska, Jeannine Morrison, Arthur Greenwald, Arnold Palmer, Rev. William Barker, Jean Barker, Kirk Browning, Milton Chen, Dr. Margaret Mary Kimmel, Nancy Curry, Bill Strickland, Rev. George Wirth, Yo-Yo Ma, Joe Negri, Michael Horton, Wynton Marsalis, Dr. Jerome Singer, Dr. Dorothy Singer, Dr. Susan Linn, Jeff Varion, Dr. James Hughes, Dr. William Hirsch, Danforth Fales, Rev. Burr Wishart, David Hartman, Rev. Lisa Dormire, Barry Head, Howard Erlanger, Pam Erlanger, Sam Silberman, Dr. Bernard Mallinger, Stephanie Mallinger, Pasquale Buba, Paul Taff, Tom Junod, Kate Taylor, George Hill, Nancy Gruner, Susan Stamberg, Francis Chapman, Dr. Andrew Purves, Jerlean Daniel, Alice Cahn, Josh Selig, Angela Santomero, and Tim Lybarger.
And, finally, to Marianne Cola of The Pittsburgh Foundation, who has been invaluable to me in sorting through the demands of running a major charitable organization while finishing the writing of a complicated biography.
NOTES
CHAPTER 1
1. The Heritage of a Commonwealth. [Biographical sketches] W. Palm Beach, FL: The American Historical Co., Inc., 1969. Page 449. Print.
2. Okonak, James R. Personal Interview. 12 October 2010. Audio.
3. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 4 October 2010. Audio.
4. Rogers, Fred. Interview by Charlie Rose. Charlie Rose. 20 September 1994. Video.
5. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 9 January 2012. Audio.
6. The Latrobe Bulletin, Latrobe, PA. November 1981. Print.
7. “The Benefactor.” Latrobe Area Hospital Charitable Foundation. Fall 1996. Print.
8. Chapman, Francis. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 16 July 2008. Video.
9. “Some Ancestors of Fred McFeely Rogers.” Kapp, Deborah. Prepared for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. November 2011. Print.
10. Showalter, Edward. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 20 July 2009. Video.
11. Manoli, Anita Lavin. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 20 July 2009. Video.
12. Kerr, The Rev. Clark. Personal Interview. 15 March 2011. Audio.
13. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.
14. Okonak, James R. Personal Interview. 24 May 2011. Audio.
15. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.
16. “Latrobe, Pennsylvania.” Greater Latrobe Centennial Corporation. June 1954. Print.
17. Ibid.
18. “Some Ancestors of Fred McFeely Rogers.” Kapp, Deborah. Prepared for the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. November 2011. Print.
19. Manoli, Anita Lavin. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 20 July 2009. Video.
20. Ibid.
21. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 24 September 2010. Audio.
22. Prohaska, Rudolph. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 20 July 2009. Video.
23. Ibid.
24. Mencken, H. L. The Baltimore Sun. Baltimore, MD. January 1935. Print.
25. Okonak, James R. Personal Interview. 24 May 2011. Audio.
26. McFeaters, Peggy Moberg. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 21 July 2009. Video.
27. Ibid.
28. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.
29. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 4 October 2010. Audio.
30. Prohaska, Rudolph. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 20 July 2009. Video.
31. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 18 October 2007. Video.
32. Rogers, Alberta Vance. Interview by Mike Pacek. Latrobe Area Historical Society. 23 July 1991. Print.
33. Palmer, Arnold. Personal Interview. 16 May 2011. Audio.
34. Ibid.
35. Rogers, Fred. Speech. Opening Ceremonies Sesquicentennial. Saint Vincent Archabbey and College. Latrobe, PA. Fred Rogers Archive. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St.
Vincent College. 25 April 1995. Print.
36. Ibid.
37. McFeaters, Peggy Moberg. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 21 July 2009. Video.
CHAPTER 2
1. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 18 October 2007. Video.
2. Ibid.
3. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.
4. Collins, Mark, and Margaret Mary Kimmel, editors. Mister Rogers Neighborhood: Children, Television and Fred Rogers. Pittsburgh: University Of Pittsburgh Press. 1996. Page 23. Print.
5. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.
6. Rogers, Joanne. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 14 June 2007. Video.
7. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 18 October 2007. Video.
8. “The Historic Beginnings of Latrobe.” Around Latrobe. Latrobe Historical Society. 2003. Print.
9. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Interview by Jessica Wiederhorn. The Narrative Trust. Fred Rogers Oral History Collection. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at St. Vincent College. 18 October 2007. Video.
10. Okonak, James R. Personal Interview. 12 October 2010. Audio.
11. Eliot, Marc. Jimmy Stewart: A Biography. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.
12. Hatano-Worrell, A.W. “Fred Rogers, The Kindly Neighbor (1928–2003).” 2006. www.project-files.net/gratefulness/giftpeople/fred_rogers.htm.
13. Crozier, Elaine Rogers. Personal Interview. 27 September 2010. Audio.