Thank you, Sheriff Taylor, the dad I never had.

I probably owe more to Andy Griffith and the skills he portrayed as a father on the Andy Griffith show for my upbringing than to any other male figure ever alive.


I came up on a defunct due to death asparagus ranch, raised by grandmother in a home with mom and sister, four years older, and attended a two-teacher eight-grade school.

Like Mayberry, I was raised in a rural setting, without even running drinking water (we had to go to a well to refill what fed a single kitchen spigot).

We had a Black and White TV that my mom bought my grandfather with her first paycheck.

Three years and 14 days younger than Ron Howard, Opie was the boy I longed to be.

And Andy was the dad that I never had, but for lack of any other came to teach me values, and morals, and kindness and goodness, and how to be happy with just the way things are, and without preaching about it.

Thanks, Sheriff. Thanks, Pop.

Rest In Peace.



PS: Fact is, my DU user name is inspired by Barney, who was once heard to say, "Andy, I think we got us an SKP!" (escapee)