Early March 2020

Obie Griffith was at the Jacob Bird funeral home in downtown Mount Airy, North Carolina to receive guests for his father's visitation. He was very surprised to see Aaron Hotchner there with his son Jack. Aaron and Jack were the first to arrive. He had heard that Aaron had to go into hiding a couple of years earlier but then he remembered that Spencer Reid had told him that a last year he had come out of hiding but he had retired from the FBI. He did some type of security and consulting work.

"Good to see you, Aaron." said Obie shaking his hands.

"I heard of your dad's passing and I'm sorry for your lost." said Aaron.

"Well, my dad was 90 years old. He lived a very good life. Thank you."

They talked briefly and then Aaron went up to the coffin. Sheriff Andy Griffith looked like he was sleeping. After saying a prayer for him, Aaron and Jack went and sat down on one of the seats.

Both Sheriff Andy and Sheriff Obie had attended his aunt's funeral when she tragically died several years earlier. Aaron lived in a rural part of West Virginia, so the drive to Mount. Airy was several hours. It was his son Jack who happened to see the obituary when looking thru State News.

Shortly after Aaron Hotchner arrived, Spencer Reid and his wife Lila arrived with their 3 children. The children were delighted to see Uncle Aaron after not seeing him for a couple of years.

Within an hour, the funeral home was crowded.

Sheriff Andy Griffith, 1929-2020. Andy Griffith was born December 19, 1929 in Mount Airy, North Carolina to William and Florence Griffith who sadly died right after he graduated from high school.. After graduating from Mount Airy High School in 1947, Andy went into the army where he served for 6 years, 3 in West Germany and 3 in Korea. Andy married his high school sweetheart, Louann Barber in December of 1948. His son Opie was born in December of 1954. In January of 1955, his mother Louann sadly died in her sleep.

A couple of months later, Andy unexpected was called upon to become the Sheriff of Mount Airy which he accepted. He was 25 years old and was the youngest person ever to be a Sheriff. He was reelected many many times, and retired in January of 1997. He led the Sheriff's Office thru good and bad times. He also modernized the Sheriff's Office back in 1982 becoming the first Sheriff's Office in North Carolina to have personal computers.

Upon retirement, Andy continued to work as a Police Officer and the last couple of years, it mostly was desk work. At age 90, Andy was official retired and was one of the oldest people to be a police officer. His work in law enforcement spanned over 6 decades.

In 1965 Andy married Barbara Jones who was an RN and they had 3 children, a son Matthew (Jenny), two daughter Nancy Griffin Mars(Steve) and Julia Griffin Totlson (Gary). Barbara died in 2008.

Andy had 15 grandchildren and 3 great-grand children with one on the way.

He was a beloved Sheriff, father, grandfather and great-grandfather and was well-liked in the community.

"Okay Nathan." said Lila in a whisper. This was his clue not to continue reading as people were starting to look at him. Thankfully he stopped.

"The apples doesn't fall far from the tree dad," said Jack to his father.

He didn't say it loud enough for Spencer Reid to hear him but Aaron knew it was the truth. The middle child Nathan was 13 years old but was very tall for his age and look like the spiting image of his dad.

The funeral was held the next day at the First Baptist Church. Andy was a member of the Grace Episcopal church but due to the large number of people wanting to attend his funeral, it was moved. There were law enforcement from all over the country who attended, many of whom Obie didn't know personally. A local news crew was also there.

A couple of hours before the funeral, Obie received a letter from someone that he hadn't heard from in decades. The letter was from Rose Pine-Wick, who was the former housekeeper who had left to get married after Aunt Bee had come to live with them. She was living in the Villages in Florida.

Dear Obie Griffith:

I don't know if you remember me but my name is Rose Pine-Wick. I was your dad's housekeeper when you were a small boy. I left when you were 6 years old to get married. I was very sadden to hear of your dad's passing. Like your mother, I also grew up in the orphanage and was very grateful that your parents allowed me to live in your home while I finished high school. I was 14 when I came to live with your parents. Your mother was pregnant with you at the time. I was also grateful that your dad allowed me to live in your home and finish school as long as I took care of the house. An older neighbor took care of you while I was at school.

I met Lou Wick at one of the dances in nearby Water Springs. We got married in 1960 and shortly thereafter he joined the military. We first ended up in West Germany, England, then Japan and finally California. He retired from the military in 1980. We then moved to Florida where he worked for NASA until his retirement in 2004. Sadly Lou died in 2015. We had a very good life and marriage together.

We had 3 children, 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.

Just want to say that your father was a good man and was always good to me. Didn't judge me as others sometimes did. Was always kind and nice to everyone he met. He will be missed.

At the funeral, Obie read parts of the letter when he got up to speak about his father. Tears started coming down his face and said that the description that Rose Pine Wick made accurately described his father.

He remembered his dad telling him that day that his mother died. His dad had worked the night shift and had left right after dinner. His mom had a really bad headache and had gone to bed after dinner. Obie who was 4 months old had been crying and Rose got up to see if his mom was okay as she didn't seem to be responding to Obie's cries. . It was around midnight

Rose had called police crying and sobbing. When Andy arrived home, two patrol cars and an ambulance had just arrived at the house. Louann was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. Everyone more or less knew that she had died at the house. An autopsy revealed that Louann had a massive stroke.

At the funeral Aunt Bee more or less took care of him and he slept thru the whole funeral. Aunt Bee stayed at Andy's house for about a month, then went home.

It was even a miracle he was born as he later found out his mother had 3 miscarriages and she had nearly bled to death after one of them. Her pregnancy was difficult as she had blood pressure problems. . His mother had suffered from bad headaches since she was 10 years old. During pregnancy she had some really bad ones. Her blood pressure was so high, that they had to C-section, an operation which wasn't common.

It had been quite expensive but Opie had a complete head exam. He didn't have the headaches like his mother had but he wanted to be tested anyway. The result were fine.

After Andy's funeral and the interment at the cemetery, everyone went back to his dad's house. None of his family lived in Mount Airy and they were shattered throughout the US. One sister Julia lived in California, the other sister Nancy lived in Washington D.C. His brother lived in Pensacola Florida and Obie lived in Vernon, Florida where he had moved about 5 years earlier. Once their father's estate was settled, which took a couple of weeks, they all left but not before giving the house that they grew up in one last look. It had been sold a couple of days earlier.

Tears came to Obie's eyes. Soon new owners would be moving in. The new owners were a married couple in their mid 30's who had 3 children. His dad probably would have liked them had he met them.