In the remembrance of Pittsburgh-based national hero Mr.
Fred Rogers, a hospital from his hometown dressed all newborns in his trademark dress – red cardigans, black ties, and white sneakers.
The act was a part of celebrating Cardigan Day, a local holiday created by WQED TV station in the memory of the famous children’s TV show anchor.
Cardigan Day is Pittsburgh’s own way of celebrating World Kindness Day and all the citizens take an active part in it.
The nurses at UPMC Magee-Women’s Hospital, Pittsburgh, went the extra mile to honor Mr. Rogers when his 91-year-old wife Joanne visited the nursery.
“They’re so polite,” the old lady appreciated the nurses while visiting the nursery babies dressed like her late husband.
“Well, I am an old lady, and I just love babies,” she continued, adding that her husband would also have been very happy on this.
“I don’t know many people who don’t love little babies,” said Joanne.
To celebrate the day, Joanne herself dressed up in Rogers’ signature red cardigan.
Trib Live reported that one of the nurses from the hospital, Caitlin Pechin, handcrafted all the six cardigans and the sneakers to wrap up the newborns.
Caitlin said that she learned the art of crocheting before becoming a professional nurse.
She spent two to three hours making each of the six tiny cardigans, and the cute little boots took her thirty minutes a pair.
Caitlin told KDKA TV: “It’s more just something I do for fun, and I really enjoy making things for babies because they look so cute in them.”
Michael, dad of Mary Lewandowski – who was also dressed in the outfit – said that it was “very special” to see Mrs. Rogers as he had spent time watching Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood as a child with his granny.
Michael said of his grandma: “Now we named our daughter after her.
“Her name is Mary as well. And we’ll look forward to watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood with her our daughter one day.”
Mary’s mom Kristin added: ”When I was watching Mister Rogers, just his lessons of kindness and acceptance of everyone certainly stuck with me.
“It is something that we hope to teach [Mary] as well.”
Mr. Rogers, who died in 2003 of stomach cancer, started his career with the show The Children’s Corner back in 1958 with WQED TV channel.
In 1968, Rogers started a new TV show with the name Mister Rogers Neighborhood, which earned him nationwide fame. At one point, his show was the longest constantly airing children’s show in the entire television history.
Cardigan Day was created by Rogers’ TV channel WQED to celebrate his work.
The day coincides with World Kindness Day and the channel urged people to wear Rogers’ signature clothing to celebrate the national celebrity.
A lot of people including teachers, anchors, and high schoolers participated in Cardigan Day.
The Smithsonian Institute told in a 2001 article that Rogers used a total of 28 sweaters in 33 years. They referred to them as Fred’s ‘grown-up version of play clothes.’
The article by the Smithsonian Institute said: “At the outset of each episode, he zipped on that trademark sweater, inaugurating a new day on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
“The perennially genial and gentle Fred Rogers spoke the language of children – ‘You’ll have things you want to talk about; I will too’ – and allayed their fears.
“Whether it was fending off anxieties about a foray to a barbershop or tackling tough subjects like divorce, Rogers helped preschoolers cope, five days a week.”
Replaced!