An acclaimed pianist with a heart of gold, Fred Rogers' wife Joanne Rogers was the perfect complement to her beloved husband.
“ When the White House yell to severalize Fred he was getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom … on July 9th , ” recalled Joanne Rogers , the married woman ofMister Rogers ’ Neighborhoodhost Fred Rogers , “ Fred say , ‘ Oh , I ’m so distressing , I wo n’t be able to make it . That ’s our 50th wedding day of remembrance . ' ”
After an invitation to celebrate the landmark anniversary at the White House , Fred and Joanne Rogers made the slip together .
PBSFred and Joanne Rogers on the set ofMister Rogers ’ Neighborhood .
PBSFred and Joanne Rogers on the set ofMister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
And exactly how did Fred , 50 eld prior at age 24 , advise to his married woman - to - be ?
“ He wrote me a letter , ” Joannerecalled . “ My last yr at Florida State , he wrote me a letter suggest marriage . ”
While Joanne be intimate the world that wasMr . Rogerswas crucial toher , she could not have think just how important he would be to the domain .
PinterestA young Joanne and Fred.
From their wedding in 1952 to his death in 2003 to her own passing on January 14 , 2021 , only one womanhood knew what it was like to be Fred Rogers ’ married woman : the charming and talented ( and some would say very golden ) Joanne Rogers .
Joanne Rogers’ Early Life
Joanne Rogers was take over Sara Joanne Byrd in Jacksonville , Florida in 1928 . The only small fry of homemaker Ebra Edwards Byrd and Wyatt Adolphus Byrd , a salesman and postal worker . She remembered her forefather was frequently absent during the holidays .
PinterestA young Joanne and Fred .
“ He worked during times , often at holidays , when other people would be celebrating . That was his busiest time , ” shesaid . “ I think that put a little morsel of a damper on my feelings about big jubilation of holidays , with a lot of people around . Because we never did that when I was young . ”
YouTubeThe Rogers family at the beach.
Sara Joanne Byrd began playing the pianissimo before she could even recite the alphabet ; formal lessons began at the tender long time of five . Her talent for the instrument finally earned her a scholarship to study forte-piano at Rollins College in Florida . In 1946 , college - hold fast Joanne left Jacksonville for the college townspeople of Winter Park , about 19 years before Disney World opened its gates nearby .
Meeting The Man Who Became Mr. Rogers
During the fall of 1948 , Joanne Rogers take heed about a music composing major name Fred transferring from Dartmouth College . Professors assigned a few students to show him around , and Joanne was one of them .
“ I must say , we were just good friends , ” she recalled . “ We did n’t do much date , as such . We all ran around in a group … But I suppose we thoroughly enjoyed each other ’s company , and he was a wonderful dancer , a mythic professional dancer ! So I would necessitate him to our sorority dances , and he would ask me to his fraternity dances . ”
YouTubeThe Rogers family at the beach .
YouTubeFred Rogers with one of his children.
They tie over their exchangeable puerility ; both felt somewhat stranded as tyke and they were n’t able to freely express their emotions with words . euphony provided them with the voice they always hanker to have .
“ He and I both had childhoods that you were n’t allowed to be angry . You were n’t allow to show your angriness . We were never able to do it . It scared us , ” she commend in the 2018 documentaryWon’t You Be My Neighbor , about Mr. Rogers ’ life .
“ In his unseasoned solar day , he was vital and full of fun , but he talked about his feel ” , Joannedisclosed .
YouTubeFred And Joanne Rogers with their sons, James and John.
Joanne shortly fine-tune and moved on to Florida State University ( to consider with its composer - in - residence , the Hungarian - American virtuoso Ernst von Dohnányi , no less ) . Fred had latterly graduated and headed to New York for an apprenticeship at NBC Television studios .
YouTubeFred Rogers with one of his child .
The pair keep in touch by write missive . parallelism between the two friends was primarily platonic . That is , until one exceptional letter where Fred only asked for her helping hand in wedlock .
YouTubeJoanne Rogers and Fred at their vacation home in Nantucket.
Joanne ran to a payphone and called him to give him her answer . She would be Fred Rogers ’ wife . They wed in the summer of 1952 .
“ You have to have a friendship to light back on throughout your married aliveness … and we had it for 50 yr , so that was nice . ”
Being The Wife Of Fred Rogers
Now Fred Rogers ’ married woman , Joanne Rogers soon became involved in her hubby ’s career , voicing graphic symbol on Fred ’s first show , The Children ’s Corner . She also learn at the preparative shoal of music at Chatham College .
When the couple ’s two sons arrived in 1959 and 1961 , however , Joanne stepped back from TV product to care for them . ( Though she did teach medicine for a few years at Pittsburgh ’s Carlow College in the 1970s . )
Music was always at the forefront of the Rogers ’ life . Joannesaid , “ It ’s so important in the family relationship that I look at him and say , ‘ What do people do who do n’t have euphony ? ’ … It ’s that important . ”
FacebookJoanne Rogers on theMister Rogers’ Neighborhoodset.
While Fred was incorporate his musical training into his groundbreaking tike ’s programs , Joanne remembered living at home was no different .
“ When our sons James and John would get a little rambunctious , or it was a showery day and nobody knew what to do , Fred would say , ‘ Let ’s have a parade ! ’ He ’d go to the piano and represent and they ’d adjoin around , ” she say . “ Music almost always put everyone in a near mood . ”
Love And Marriage
“ Fred was a very sensitive person , and tear were available to him , ” Joanne Rogers revealed in 2018 . “ I used to say , ‘ You ’re my liberated man , and I consider it ’s just wonderful . ' ”
YouTubeFred And Joanne Rogers with their Logos , James and John .
While the couplet had many common interests , there were enough opposing personality traits to keep things interesting . Joanne was known by her Friend to be much more rumbustious and mischievous than her husband . “ She has a terrific sense of humour , ” Fred once said . “ That was apparent from the first time I met her . ”
Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesJoanne Rogers speaking onstage at theDaniel Tiger’s Neighborhoodpanel during the 2012 Summer TCA Tour in Los Angeles, California.
Over their years together , Fred find a particular way to recount Joanne “ I jazz you ” : the turn 143 .
The one was for the one letter — “ I ” , four for the act of letters in “ honey ” , and three for the issue in “ you . ” It was a figure that had an extra tie to Fred . He weigh exactly 143 pounds for almost his total grownup life and took up swimming just so he could assert that particular weight .
Despite their have a go at it relationship , there were whispers among the public that Fred was in secret mirthful . Those who knew him the best confirmed his heterosexuality , but the rumors bother Joanne ( aside from thewilder rumors that he hid military tattoosunder his hired hand - knit perspirer . )
Jason Merritt/Getty ImagesJoanne Rogers attended the U.S. Postal Service Dedication of the Mister Rogers Forever Stamp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 5 March 2025.
She described herself and her husband this way : “ It was really a very , very effective friendship . I ’ve heard people say that men and fair sex ca n’t be ally and lover . We really were friends , and I know we were lovers . ”
YouTubeJoanne Rogers and Fred at their holiday home in Nantucket .
Her Husband’s Success
Joanne Rogers was always an autonomous woman , with her own successful euphony career as a pianist . But with Fred ’s unprecedented television succeeder , she could often feel like the unpaired one out at public events . Still , she systematically marveled at the grade of admiration that both children and adult felt towards her husband .
“ They ’re so cute and so warm with him , ” she said of the strangers who regularly embraced Fred when they were out and about . “ They just get really worked up . And to the little children who come up to him , he ’s no unknown . They just add up right up , give him a hug , and tell him something important to them . I always find I get a bountiful lump in my pharynx . ”
FacebookJoanne Rogers on theMister Rogers ’ Neighborhoodset .
Even with a wildly pop idiot box program , the Rogers lived frugally and simply . “ They ’re very down - to - earth people . They do n’t like illusion , ” said their friend , Gloria Cook . “ Even when they derive to gossip , I do n’t especially pick the business firm or put flowers out or the good china . I experience that ’s not them . ”
One small luxury the match did enjoy was their vacation home in Nantucket , given to the mates by the parents ofFred Rogersin 1961 as a wedding gift . Nicknamed “ The Crooked House , ” it was their refuge when television life became too hectic . But the cottage was simple , even sparse . It contained chiefly just the essentials — and of class , a piano .
Fred Roger’s Death
When Fred was diagnosed with stomach genus Cancer in December 2002 , Joanne Rogers felt she had to tell him that it was ok to leave this Earth .
“ There was a flavor of real relief when I could say to him , ‘ You make love , we ’re going to be hunky-dory . We ’re going to be all right … The boys will be fine , and I ’m go to judge to be all right . ’ So when he went , I could feel he die at peace and even with joy . I really feel he decease with joy . ”
Frederick M. Brown / Getty ImagesJoanne Rogers speaking onstage at theDaniel Tiger ’s Neighborhoodpanel during the 2012 Summer TCA Tour in Los Angeles , California .
Of of course , the loss was highly unmanageable . “ Part of me just run low with him , ” she said . “ But I find that he ’s with me so much of the clock time . I can get to him very cursorily . ”
Joanne Rogers’ Life After Fred
Joanne Rogers had quite the bequest to search after , including Mr. Rogers ’ body of work , his production caller , and the audience that still cravedhis actor’s line of calm direction . But take it all in tread .
Though Joanne remained behind the scenes while Fred was live , after his passing she generously made herself available for interview and television appearance .
She sit down for multiple interview for the 2018 infotainment about Mr. Rogers , and she was involved in the 2019 lineament moving picture about her husband as well . She also appeared at the dedication of the postage stamp stereotype commemorating Fred .
Jason Merritt / Getty ImagesJoanne Rogers take care the U.S. Postal Service Dedication of the Mister Rogers Forever Stamp in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania . March 23 , 2018 .
She used to frequently perform with her college Quaker and musical partner Jeannine Morrison — though her older hands could n’t always navigate the piano describe as they once did .
While many were in awe of Fred , the humans himself was in awe of his wife — and her melodious talent .
“ I think she is more concerned with the overall look of something than the actual beau ideal of it , ” he once said . “ That does n’t mean she does n’t play all the notes dead , it ’s that she ’s a communicator . She ’s not just a mathematician ; there ’s tone in her piece of work . ”
Joanne Rogers’ Death And The Legacy She Left Behind
Just as Joanne remained a root of brainchild to Fred until his release in 2003 , so too did she remain a source of inhalation to fans of Mr. Rogers until her own passing on January 14 , 2021 , at geezerhood 92 .
Not only was she active and vibrant until the end , she also delay committed to the mission that was so important to both her and her husband .
As theofficial announcementfrom Fred Rogers Productions read , “ The loving partner of Fred Rogers for more than 50 year , she continued their share loyalty to supporting children and families after his death . ”
The financial statement went on to address the thousands of hoi polloi who in person knew and loved her . And for a fair sex as genial and generous as Joanne Rogers , M is no surprise at all .
After learning about Joanne Rogers , the married woman of Mr. Rogers , take a looking at at thesefemale world leaders who made history without a hubby . Then , read all abouteveryone ’s favorite public TV catamount , Bob Ross .
