Mayberry, North Carolina, in TV Land

With the death of actor Andy Griffith, who passed recently at the age of 86, Mayberry feels a bit farther off, a bit more of a part of my life from many years ago. But the show still feels comfortable. The actors on the show felt like real people, and real friends. Whether you remember him as Andy Griffith, or Sherrif Andy Taylor, he was a good guy, a guy you could depend on in spite of Barney's antics and best intentions always causes problems.

Don Knotts, who played Deputy Barney Fife in the Mayberry TV series, also passed from this earth a few years ago. In real life, Knotts was a cigar smoking ladies' man. In the series, he was the always well meaning friend, who managed to mess up the simpliest activity. He wasn't incompetant. He had self-confidence in his character, which kept him human, and the character loveable.

Goober, George Lindsay, had also passed.

Aunt BeaTaylor, the mother figure to all the characters, was among the first from the show to depart this earth. Griffith described her an an usual lady, with a darkness or depression about her. That never showed in her character. She way everybody's Aunt, and you knew if you ever saw you she'd give you a big friendly hug and make you something to eat, probably home baked cookies that you can almost smell.

There have been lots of sitcom cities, but none make me feel as "at home" as Andy Griffith and Don Knotts, as well as Ron Howard, in the make-believe town of Mayberry, North Carolina.