A few days ago I watched the wonderful movie "Return to Mayberry". It has a very special meaning to me. I grew up in a town much smaller than Mayberry, yet it was similar in many ways. The people there watched out for one another and cared about each other. Oh, it wasn't perfect by any means, and perhaps I have selective memories, but I do have a very special place for my hometown of Dorchester, Wisconsin.
Like Opie I was rather young when I lost a parent. My father worked away from home for many years and only came home on occasional weekends, so I did not spend much time with him growing up. Then suddenly he died when I was just thirteen. So I grew up without having a father teach me the many things a young boy needs to learn. My father wasn't there, like Andy was for Opie, to teach me how to fish. How I would have given anything to have been able to sit along the bank of a lake with my father and just fish and talk. There were so many times when I had a problem but no one to share it with. I wouldn't even have cared if I didn't catch a fish all day. Just to be there alone, my dad and me - that would have been enough. When I was twenty one years old I moved away from Dorchester to begin my career in teaching. I would go back often over the years to visit my mother and other family members. But slowly over the years the people who were there when I was young were no longer there. It seemed like each time I went home another store had closed down and another new family had moved into a house where I once spent time. I often thought that I would some day go back and live in Dorchester. But it never came to be. And now that I am retired, health issues require me to stay in our town of 60,000 because of the health care facilities. When I see Andy drive into Mayberry in "Return to Mayberry, after being gone for so many years I cannot help but envy him. He was able to return to his hometown. Although many of his friends and family were no longer there, many would welcome his return. Going home after so many years would never be the same. Everything will have changed. But still, he was going home. When I first saw "Return to Mayberry" I was very moved by the scene in which Andy went to visit Aunt Bee at the cemetery. I was so moved by it that it motivated me to do something. Shortly thereafter my wife Linda and I bought our cemetery lots in Dorchester. Since then we have also added our headstone. When we went "home" a few weeks ago I took a walk through the cemetery. Very close to where out final resting place will be there are many familiar names. Both my parents are just a short distance away as well as are my grandparents, several aunts and uncles, a childhood neighbor, and even a former teacher. Not far away I found the resting place of the man who gave me my first job. Everywhere I went memories came flooding back to my mind as I stopped and read the names of people who were part of my life when I was a young boy. Many may consider me to be overly emotional but I find comfort to know that I will someday be going back home to a place that meant so much to me. There is closeness and something special about growing up and living in a small rural community. People who are born in large impersonal cities miss so much. It is a hard thing to explain, but I am sure those of you have had similar experiences can understand what I am saying. That's the wonderful thing about having a passion for Mayberry. One never knows when it will enter our daily lives. I would never have guessed back in 1960 when I saw the first episode of TAGS that it would have such an impact on my life. Kenneth G. Anderson 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 715-839-8470 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://mail.wbmutbb.com/mailman/listinfo/wbmutbb_wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
