Fred Rogers
By Rip Rense
When Fred Rogers departs this earth, which for the sake of humanity should not be for many years to come, he will not return in another life. Buddhists would tell you that Rogers has finished evolving; he has exited through the revolving door of reincarnation. He is heading straight for Nirvana.Or, if you subscribe to Rogers' Presbyterian construct, his soul will be promptly dispatched to the Pearly Gates, where St. Peter will enter into the log book nothing more than “Mister Rogers.”
“There are only a couple of people I've met in my life who I put in this category,” said Beth Sullivan, creator/producer of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, and a close friend of Rogers. “I'm not a religious person, but Fred is a holy man, a holy person. He really is. Truly a Mother Teresa type of person. He does what he does because it comes from very deep inside, and he does it with every fiber of his being.”
Can you say halo?
A long time ago, an aspiring young composer named Fred Rogers came home from college, with a degree in music composition from Rollins University in Florida fresh in hand. Entering the family house in the sweet hamlet of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Fred spied a box in the corner of the living room. The box had a window in it.
“What's that?” said Fred, who was soon to depart for the next step in his education, the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, where he hoped to be ordained as a minister.