I met Mister Rogers in 1994 when he came to offer his television ministry experience to the seminary media department. He was in person as he was on television. It took him half an hour to walk across the quad because he would stop and listen to every person who came up to meet him – most telling him how much he meant to them when they were children. Many left in grateful tears, twice blessed because they got to say thank you for the kindness he had given decades earlier.

There was a quiet approachability about Fred Rogers that changed the air around him. He wanted good things for other people, especially the very young and vulnerable, and he spent his life working to bring those good things to fruition. He was that rare and rarely recognized person: a living benediction for all he met.

I remember that every time I see his likeness on my table – a gift from my own child.