"I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you." Fred Rogers

Question Number 27--Do you think Mr. Rogers really was a pervert or do you think he just really liked kids?

Obviously the author of this blog questionnaire has absolutely no knowledge of The Reverend Frederick McFeely "Fred" Rogers or they would have never included it in their survey. One item most people didn't know is that Mr. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister. Beginning in 1954 and continuing for the next eight years Mr. Rogers left his WQED TV studio during his lunch breaks to study theology at the nearby Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

Some people found it difficult to believe that the gentle, soft-spoken host of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" was exactly what he seemed, but he was. There were a lot of false stories about Fred Rogers:

. He had 42 confirmed sniper kills (in Korea?).
. He served three tours of duty in Vietnam as a sniper and was credited with kills in excess of 1500 meters.
. He was the number three Marine sniper in Vietnam. One of the reasons he always wore long sleeve clothing is because his arms were covered in tattoos.
. He was a master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.

After graduating from Rollins College in Florida with a degree in music in 1951, he immediately embarked on a broadcasting career—a career that continued uninterrupted for nearly 50 years, even while he studied for a Bachelor of Divinity degree, eventually becoming an ordained minister in 1962. This is far from hiding a secret past as a trained killer.

Here is an anecdote that appeared in TV Guide. "Apparently, Mr. Rogers had been driving the same car for years, an old second-hand Impala. It was stolen from its parking spot near the WQED studio. Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by local news outlets, and general shock swept across town. Within 48 hours, the car was back in the spot where he left it, along with a note saying, 'If we'd known it was yours, we never would have taken it!' "

Fred Rogers was a truly gentle soul who devoted his entire adult life to educating and bettering the lives of children, and this is the manner in which he should be remembered.

K.