Now this is a something different book from the sort of series stuff I was reading. This is a memoir by the person that played Officer Clemmons on Mr Rogers Neighborhood kids show. This is a book that I am not sure why I paid the 50 cents at the library for it and then why did I read it right away. I guess I wanted something a little lighter. It was a good read about his life but certainly not a light read. He grew up poor in Alabama with his mother getting beaten up by his dad. Mother & siblings moved to Youngstown OH where he went to school and developed into a singer. His step dad wasn't happy with him and beat him forcing him to move out of the house in high school. His talent enough to get him into college at Oberlin and he earns his music degree and gets accepted into a masters program at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. It is while singing in Pittsburgh he meets Fred Rogers and is worked onto the show. Clemmons is also a gay man back in the 1960s and 1970s when not much freedom for that. He is basically forced to marry a high school gal that was sweet on him to keep hidden him being gay. The marriage doesn't last but a few years but I guess enough to satisfy people. He has a very good career as a singer and eventually ends up at a small college in New England as a teacher. Interesting read and also nothing but very good things to say about Mr Rogers. Dr Clemmons is an interesting person that has lived through some interesting times.
There are 5 WL for this book so I will mail off in PBS at some point.
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