Fred Rogers - Personal Life

Personal Life

Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, 40 miles (65 km) southeast of Pittsburgh, to James and Nancy Rogers; he had one sister, Elaine. Early in life he spent much of his free time with his maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, who had an interest in music. He would often sing along as his mother would play the piano and he himself began playing at five.

Rogers graduated from Latrobe High School (1946). He studied at Dartmouth College (1946–48), then transferred to Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where he earned a B.A. in Music Composition in 1951.

At Rollins, he met Sara Joanne Byrd, an Oakland, Florida native; they married on June 9, 1952. They had two sons, James (b. 1959) and John (b. 1961). In 1963 Rogers graduated from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church.

Rogers had an apartment in New York City and a summer home on Nantucket island in Massachusetts. Rogers was red-green color blind, swam every morning, was a vegetarian, and neither smoked nor drank. Despite recurring rumors, he never served in the military.