Issue #21 of the Hook; published 06/27/02

Carolyn Grinnell, president of the Waltons International Fan Club, was there in Schuyler the day the museum opened in 1992. She loves coming up from North Carolina every fall to the quaint little town where the club has had reunions with fans and cast members at the museum.

This year, however, the fan club will hold its July 13 reunion at the Doubletree not in Schuyler but 45 minutes away in Charlottesville.

As with so much in this story, explanations vary.

"We could not get things worked out like we had in the past," says Grinnell. "[The museum] said they were doing their own thing in the fall. I didn't want cast members torn and decided to hold ours in the summer."

Jim Hamner says that some at the museum felt like the fan club was using the museum to pay for the expenses of flying the actors to Virginia.

Buck Whitehurst, president of the museum's board of directors, agrees with that theory, but accuses Jim Hamner of being one of the ones who felt the fan club was taking advantage of the museum.

"I didn't feel that way," Hamner replies.

"For the two groups not to work together is crazy," says Whitehurst. He pledges to support the fan club and says the museum is planning a cast reunion, even though "Earl had implied he couldn't in good conscience invite actors to come back."

And Grinnell is trying to walk the line between the Hamner-Whitehurst factions. She plans to visit the museum, but not with the fan club as a group. "It breaks my heart there's been so much turmoil," she says.

Coming to this year's reunion are Jon Walmsley, who played Jason Walton, and his wife, Lisa Harrison, who played Jason's girlfriend in the series; Kami Cotler, the actress who portrayed the youngest Walton, Elizabeth, who used to live in Nelson County but has moved back to California; Mary Beth McDonough-- Erin-- and Jim and Earl Hamner.

Grinnell (email address: ) says the autograph-signing by the cast from 1 to 3pm July 13 at the Doubletree is open to the public.

And there's a local actress who once appeared as a guest on the show Grinnell says she'd like to invite: Sissy Spacek.

In an episode in which she unsuccessfully tried to woo John-Boy, played by Richard Thomas, Spacek uttered the unforgettable line, "When are you going to stop being John-Boy and start being John-Man?"--Lisa Provence

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