Journeying with the Twists and Turns of TV’s “The Waltons”

Maybe you have heard of the movie and television fictitious “Walton Family” living their everyday challenges and joys on their rural Walton’s Mountain in Virginia. If you have, let me do a little review. If you haven’t, let me introduce you.

Events are set during the time of 1933 to 1946 which include the Great Depression and World War II. However, members of the Walton Family trace their roots far back from that and claim an inheritance which obliges them to preserve and protect the Walton land. And when necessary defend it.

Family characters are Grandma Esther Walton, Grandpa Zeb Walton, Mama Olivia Walton, Daddy John Walton, John Walton Jr. (better known as John-Boy), Jason Walton, Mary Ellen Walton, Erin Walton, Ben Walton, Jim-Bob Walton, and Elizabeth Walton. Through the television series we see their sibling rivalries, but also a strong family bond. The female characters’ roles explore an expansion in the possibilities and achievement of career choice beyond what was possible for their female ancestors.

Community characters include the well-to-do Baldwin Sisters—Miss Mamie and Miss Emily—whose home-distilled moonshine (which the ladies call “Papa’s recipe”) endears them to many of the men on Walton’s Mountain.

Knowing everyone and known by everyone, Ike Godsey runs the town mercantile store along with his wife Corabeth. He also is the town Postmaster. County Sheriff Ep Bridges, also attuned to the happenings on Walton’s Mountain, is occasionally called upon to maintain the peace.

The Verdie and Harley Foster family are masterfully depicted as a Black family struggling to find where they fit in on Walton’s Mountain. Verdie, in particular, shows her strength of spirit and determination to rise above her limited ability to read and write.

A couple of years ago, as I started watching this television program on a somewhat daily basis, I began to relate to the events depicted by thinking back on various happenings in my own life: education, career, marriage, raising children, and loss of dear family members and friends.

We have Earl Hamner Jr. to thank for the story on which The Waltons is based—specifically Hamner’s 1961 novel Spencer’s Mountain.

The Homecoming: A Christmas Story aired on December 19, 1971 as a TV film special. It was so well received by viewers and critics that the television series The Waltons was created. Some of the actors in the television series The Waltons are playing the characters they portrayed in the 1971 TV film special. Other actors are new to their portrayals of the Walton family or the community. The TV series The Waltons ran from September 1972 through nine seasons. And later there were six reunion sequels set in later time frames.

Online videos that I’ve slightly researched with Walton back-stories which may interest you can be found on YouTube listed as The Waltons Behind the Scenes with Judy Norton. Judy played the role of Mary Ellen Walton. On YouTube Judy Norton shares fascinating tidbits about the actors and the actual filming of the television episodes.

The Twists and Turns of Stories from The Waltons as I watched them on TV became in my mind the twists and turns of stories from my own life. The Waltons never figured things out perfectly. Neither did I. However, they managed to adapt to whatever life threw at them. And so did I. Hopefully I became wiser along the way and thus learned how to be a better contributor to the society in which I live.