Marion Hamner Hawkes, The Real-Life 'Mary Ellen Walton', Dies at 74
The Kentucky Wizard
tomboy-turned-nurse who inspired the character of Mary Ellen on
television's "The Waltons," has died following a long illness. She was
74.
Hawkes, who died Monday, was the sister of the show's creator, Earl
Hamner Jr., who based the characters on his family and experiences
growing up in rural Virginia during the Depression.
And just like the character in the show, Hawkes was the oldest daughter
who was every bit as rough-and-tumble as her brothers.
Hawkes graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in
nursing and spent years working in the field. Like Hawkes, the character
of Mary Ellen also grew up to become a nurse.
"The Waltons," a ratings hit for CBS from 1972 to 1981, told the stories
of a large, close-knit family in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains through
the narrative of the oldest son, John Boy, an aspiring writer.
Over the years, thousands of "Waltons" fans trooped to the Nelson County
town of Schuyler to visit Hamner's real-life boyhood home, which was the
model for the one depicted in the show. Hamner eventually sold the home.
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Brad Ferguson
<Kentuck...@NOSPAMwalla.com> wrote:
> WILLIAMSBURG, Virginia (AP) -- Marion Hamner Hawkes, a
> tomboy-turned-nurse who inspired the character of Mary Ellen on
> television's "The Waltons"
Played by Judy Norton-Taylor, whose first film was ... "Hotel," in 1967.
It's an Arthur Hailey kind of day.
DGH
AKA: Marion H. Hawkes
Abigail Bell
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