New Book Chronicles Life In Mister Rogers' Latrobe Hometown

PITTSBURGH, PA - The small Westmoreland County town of Latrobe is no stranger to the spotlight.

As Latrobe resident and author Chris Rodell will tell you, it's the place where tens of thousands of Pittsburgh Steelers fans visit each summer to watch training camp activities at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. Travel Channel named it one of the 50 most charming towns in America in 2018, a year after Smithsonian Magazine declared it on of the 20 small towns to visit.

Latrobe also is the topic of Rodell's new book, "Growing Up In Mister Rogers' REAL Neighborhood." Its recent release coincides with the Nov. 22 movie, "A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood" in which Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks portrays Rogers.

Rodell notes in the book's preface that the movie almost certainly will thrust Latrobe back into the spotlight. "As with any national mention, squads of feature writers will visit to profile the vivid, but authentic contrast between Mister Rogers Neighborhood and the real thing," he writes.

The book's forward was written by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who said he often marveled over how one seemingly ordinary small town could raise two Presidential Medal of Freedom winners, Rogers and the late golfing legend Arnold Palmer.

"Was it magic? Was it something in the water? Or maybe something in the Rolling Rock beer, yet another iconic Latrobe native?" Ridge wrote. "I'm closer to finding the elusive answers after reading Chris Rodell's exuberant chronicle of living life in Latrobe."

Rodell, a former reporter for the Tribune-Review and National Enquirer, spoke to a number of Latrobe residents for the book - including Steve Limani, who frequently sees evidence of continued affection and admiration for Rogers.

“I had no idea how big a deal Mr, Rogers was until I moved in right across the street from his childhood home," he told Rodell. "You wouldn’t believe the impressive number of tourists from all over who want to see Mr, Rogers’s real neighborhood. And they all want a picture.”

Rodell also interviewed people such as Pat Gianella and Cathy Tigano Gianella. Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister married them in 1983. The couple, both of whom worked at WQED-TV, planned a quiet backyard wedding - until word got out that Rogers was officiating.

“Never, never did I realize just how big he was until that day,” Cathy Tigano Gianella recalled to Rodell. “We drove up and there were hundreds and hundreds of people lining the streets. There were people on rooftops. Kids in trees or on parents’ shoulders. Everyone waiting to see Fred.”

Rodell gets personal in the book as well, recounting how Rogers has helped him cope with the scary diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease several years ago. "Here's what Fred said that could apply:

'There is no normallife that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be impetus for our growth.," Rodell writes.

A love letter to both Latrobe and the legendary Rogers, Rodell's latest work is a paean to small-town Americana and the internationally renowned celebrity who never outgrew it.