Mr Rogers (& Mrs) & FSU

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2019/11/29/mrs-rogers-neighborhood-once-florida-state-and-its-music-halls/4274686002/?fbclid=IwAR3jUpGVGWzG36ihnKbbNCJBjScZ905Ab68uuKvRVwXWox7u8_TP0O4_-vM

Years before he became an icon to millions of public television viewers as host of “Mister Rogers' Neighborhood,” Fred Rogers was smitten by a child-prodigy pianist he met on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park.

Sara Joanne Byrd — who went on to earn a master's degree in music for the piano from Florida State University in 1952 — would become his wife, mother of his two sons, confidante and biggest supporter.

But Joanne kept her focus on her first love. She graduated magna cum laude in music composition from Rollins in 1950 and enrolled that same year in at Florida State’s College of Music.

“I loved it,” she said of Tallahassee and FSU. “At that time, it was manageable. We walked everywhere almost. We were really on campus most of the time.”

Rogers, who remains active in the arts and causes associated with her husband's interest in children's issues, also is a fan of Florida State Seminoles football and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

She said she tries to follow FSU football and is hoping to see some of Saturday’s match up with in-state rival the Florida Gators on Saturday.

Rogers said she returned to FSU for a solo piano performance not long after Dohnanyi passed on Feb. 9, 1960. “Fred came with me,” she said. She also remembers returning later to perform with Atlanta native Jeannine Morrison, a friend since their days at Rollins College, at a tribute to Dohnanyi.

In January 2009, Rogers was the special guest at the Tallahassee Community Chorus performance of composer John Rutter's Mass of the Children during its Unity Concert. It was billed as "Our Tribute to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" in her honor.

In 1952, "my last year at Florida State, he wrote me a letter proposing marriage,” Joanne said during a 2018 Today show interview when she was promoting the “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” documentary.