Joanne Rogers

Joanne Rogers passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. You may not recognize the name until you realize that her husband was the late Mr. Fred Rogers. I spent some time last night watching videos of her, primarily discussing Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for the terrific documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? I've included some of these videos below. I also encourage you to check out her obituaries in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Washington Post. She had an amazing life and certainly had her own accomplishments. I don't have any personal stories to share about Joanne Rogers. With the craziness of the world, there's just something comforting and refreshing in hearing her speak and seeing clips of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. 

I do want share some other thoughts that I saw online.

From Ya Jagoff 

So glad we had a chance to cross paths with you. Rest in peace. The neighborhood will miss you.

From Virginia Montanez (AKA Jane Pitt)

Many trying to figure out why our sadness at the death of Mrs. Rogers is hitting us so hard. It's because she has always been so wonderful at carrying on the legacy of Fred that she felt like one of our last tangible links to him. So we are mourning two people at once.

From my friend J:

So sad to hear the news of Joanne Rogers' passing. I was privileged to have gotten to know her while working at the PSO (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra). My favorite memory is being with her in Europe for 10-days on our patron tour in 2017. She said her dream was always to hear the PSO in Europe and I am so happy to have been there with her for those concerts. Our world is a better place because of her.

RIP.