Aunt Bee

Aunt Bee/ “The Andy Griffith Show”
(Frances Bavier)

Oh, no one could cook, bake (particularly pecan pie and cornbread biscuits), clean house, or be a better surrogate grandmother to Opie like sweet, lovable, kind, patient, Aunt Bee.

You need someone to contribute meals to church events or bring a picnic basket full of her best home cooking to Mayberry’s jail inmates (Awww, Otis!) at the drop of a hat? Aunt Bee’s your girl.

Poor woman, though, wasn’t that lucky at love—at first. She seemed to meet and casually date disreputable men. However, thankfully, she eventually found, not only respectable suitors, but herself. She became quite the independent woman: She dumped the frumpy dresses for “power suits,” opened up her own restaurant, ran for office and learned to fly.

Aunt Bee: Proof that an aging aunt doesn’t need to stay in the kitchen; she can become her little town’s own Gloria Steinem.