Frances Bavier - Later Years

Later Years

In 1972, Bavier retired from acting and bought a home in Siler City, North Carolina. On choosing to live in North Carolina instead of her native New York, Bavier stated in an interview that, "I fell in love with North Carolina, all the pretty roads and the trees." She briefly returned to acting in 1974 in the family film Benji. Bavier never married or had children. Seemingly awkward in one-on-one relationships, she seemed to be charitable to the needs of organizations and fans. According to a 1981 article by Chip Womick, a staff writer of The Courier Tribune, Bavier enthusiastically promoted Christmas and Easter Seal Societies from her Siler City home, and often wrote inspirational letters to fans who sought autographs. Overly zealous fans however, often invaded both her property and privacy, and Bavier became reclusive.

Bavier's medical condition prevented her from taking part in the 1986 television movie Return to Mayberry. The Aunt Bee character was scripted in the television movie as having died.

Frances Bavier had been a fan of Studebaker cars since the thirties. In Mayberry R.F.D., she drove her own 1966 Daytona two-door Sports Sedan (which was the last model of the South Bend factory, though produced in Canada from 1964 to 1966). She kept this car in perfect state while alive and refused to purchase a new car when her driver suggested it. As her health failed it sat idle in her garage and was found with four flat tires, and a ruined interior from her many cats. It was auctioned for $20,000 one year after her death, and is still in the same condition as it was found. The new owners felt if it was restored, then it would no longer be Aunt Bee's Studebaker. She was also a member of the Studebakers Drivers Club.