Carroll Spinney To Retire

The man behind the voice of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, Carroll Spinney, is retiring after 50 years.  Wow, he was the voice of two of the most iconic children's characters for decades.  Many children grew up with these characters.  A new voice will take his place and hopefully continue Sesame Street for many years to come.

The news of Spinney's retirement got me thinking about Sesame Street and its' impact on children.  My children grew up on Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers.  Every morning before the carpool arrived, David and Phil would be sitting in front of the TV, learning to count, sing, read, and be good members of their community.  Sesame Street helped kids learn their numbers and letters.  It also helped them understand the world around them, appreciate our differences and accept them.

Brian was two years old when Sesame Street first came on the air.  He had two working parents, so Sesame Street was part educator and part baby sitter.  David and Phil started watching Sesame Street regularly when they were around 2 1/2 years old.  It helped them learn their colors, count, numbers, letters, you name it.  Through the years, songs were written to help children through all kinds of tough situations.  Whatever would we do without Sesame Street?

Childrens television shows come and go, but Sesame Street has been around for more than 50 years.  Anyone who is anyone in the field of music, dance and film, has done an episode of Sesame Street.  The voice of Carroll Spinney is one we will not soon forget.  His characters will live on with someone else taking over the voices, but the voices Spinney created will live on forever.