I spent some time this past weekend being interviewed by our local newspaper and one of our TV stations. I was also on one of the morning local talk radio shows. I submitted the following tribute to Andy which will be printed in our newspaper this week.
For the past two years I have had the pleasure of traveling around west central Wisconsin driving my 1965 Ford Galaxie replica Mayberry squad car and dressing as Barney Fife. I have attended many classic car shows and have participated in parades in many small towns as The Mayberry Guru. I think it is only fitting that I share a few thoughts about the passing of Andy Griffith. In one of The Andy Griffith Show episodes, Deputy Barney Fife said that Andy Taylor was the best friend Mayberry ever had. I would like to expand that thought by saying Andy Taylor was one of the best friends America ever had. Portraying Sheriff Andy Taylor, Andy Griffith showed millions of viewers for five decades what is decent and right about this great country. The town of Mayberry and the character Andy Griffith portrayed may have been fictitious, but the values they represented were very real then and are very real today. As I travel around the state in my squad car I get to talk with hundreds of people and while doing so I have discovered an important truth. Many people today are yearning to return to a time when life was much slower and simpler. They yearn for their children and grandchildren to be able to grow up in a place like Mayberry where they can enjoy being children and where they are not forced to grow up too fast. I have also had the great privilege of giving my Mayberry Presentation to over fifty groups all over Wisconsin and Minnesota. People of all ages share with me their love of the Andy Griffith Show and what an impact Andy Griffith had on their lives through his portrayal of Sheriff Taylor. I never had the honor of meeting Andy Griffith. But if I would have met him I would have said to him, “Thank you my friend. Thank you for giving us more than fifty years of great entertainment. Thank you for showing us what life is meant to be like. Thank you for all the laughs and for all the tears.” Just because Andy Griffith is no longer with us, that does mean the end of Mayberry. Mayberry will live on in all the hearts that have come to love that wonderful town and its wonderful people. And thanks to modern technology future generations will also be able to enjoy Andy Griffith, a true icon of the entertainment industry. -- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list WBMUTBB@wbmutbb.com http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
