• Font Size    

Most Popular Videos Featured On KDKA.com

Architect Wants To Save Mellon Arena
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Fred Rogers Statue Unveiled On North Shore

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Nov 5, 2009 7:43 pm US/Eastern

Fred Rogers Statue Unveiled On North Shore

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― Fred Rogers first welcomed us into his Neighborhood in February, 1968.

Generations of children continued to visit in the decades that followed.

Kids from Pittsburgh's CAPA school sang his praises on the North Shore as friends, fans and colleagues gathered for the unveiling of a sculpture honoring the late Pittsburgh icon.

Created by renowned sculptor Robert Berks, with the assistance of local architectural firm Astorino, the statue is called "Tribute to Children." But it is also a tribute to the man who made them smile.

"This is like a dream." Joanne Rogers surveyed the crowd from the podium in Riverfront Park. It's a bittersweet moment for a woman who lost her husband and best friend six years ago.

"He had so many good friends and so many people that loved him," she says, "that I feel bathed in that, and have felt that."

One of those friends is a retired sound man for the CBS Program "60 Minutes." Joel Dulberg and his wife drove from their home in Maine for the dedication ceremony.

He recalls his start as a teenage volunteer at WQED-TV in 1954. On "The Children's Corner" with Josie Carey, he met a behind the scenes puppeteer named Fred Rogers.

"Working with Fred is an experience unlike any other," he recalls fondly. "He really, I guess, set the tone of things to come for me in life."

Fred's sidekick David Newell, better known as Mr. McFeely, stood at the podium. "The statue is looking at water and looking to the city that he loved," he said.

Minutes later, the statue was unveiled, revealing a 10-ft. bronze sculpture that gazes across the Ohio River.

All of America was Mr. Rogers' neighborhood. But Pittsburgh will always be his home.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Featured Slideshows On KDKA.com

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Dave Crawley's KD Country

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.