Surry Business

Actress Betty Lynn, best known for portraying Barney Fife’s girlfriend Thelma Lou in “The Andy Griffith Show,” left Los Angeles and moved to Mount Airy earlier this year.

“It wasn’t so much that Thelma Lou was looking for Mayberry, that mythical place implanted in the minds of millions of Americans who watched the original showings of ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ in the 1960s and the millions more, young and old, who still watch the TV reruns,” writes columnist A.C. Snow in the Raleigh News & Observer.

“The move came partly because Betty Lynn, her real name, had had it with Los Angeles — its traffic congestion, its frantic pace and the fact that her home had been recently robbed twice. She was looking for serenity.

“‘I had visited Mount Airy before for appearances at Mayberry Days,’ she said, referring to the annual September event that draws thousands of Mayberry fans from across the country to Andy Griffith’s hometown. ‘The people here were always so sweet to me, so friendly, and generous. Let me tell you. Southern hospitality is no myth. It’s real!'”

You can read the entire interview here.