User Reviews

There were several characters on this show were my least favorite. Verdie, elizabeth, Erin and a few others. Verdie wants to learn to read and asks johnboy to teach her, of course he obliges. Erin hides her tonsillitis from her mother and grandma most valiantly. ❤ did need surgery. While recovering verdie helps 😌 the family while the women folk are away with her bedside care. Johnboy teaches verdie while helping Elizabeth with her reading and writing. All goes well until elizabeth innocently tells the teacher, miss hunter about her brother teaching verdie reading. Verdie arrives at the school with garments she made for miss hunter when she starts in how proud she was of verdie and so wanted to be the one to open the door for her. I thought that was an extremely condescending remark and attitude. Signs of the times? Perhaps but belittling just the same. Verdie understandably exits feeling humiliated. Teacher calls after her clueless of course (inadvertently rude) verdie feels all are laughing at her and tells johnboy she wants nothing more to do with him or his lessons. This kid can't get a word in other wise. Her sister tries to reason with verdie that johnboy and family. Deaf ears.

Erin continues to "recover" her mother asks how she feels, Erin tells her I'm still sick. Then she's told a boy stopped by wanting to know if she'd like to go to a dance of course Erin makes a speedy recovery!!! I love how her mother handled it telling her she can't have her cake and eat it too. No matter how Erin apologizes her mother was adament Erin reluctantly puts on her robe to get up and recover. Johnboy gets thru to verdie about the misunderstanding and restart the lessons. The day comes when she begins her journey to her daughters college graduation ceremony. 💓 . The south had colored bus services, there was a man sitting a bit further up. This was a good one.

When I said the three plus others weren't my faves verdie was a bit of a drama queen as elizabeth and Erin. She was a bit stubborn prideful. In a later episode her daughter was coming home due to marital problems. She was talking to her stepson about literacy and his frustration about not having any new subjects to learn. She said to be grateful you have learning young instead of having to learn at my age. Apparently her children all five offered to help her with literacy. She came up with every excuse I'm tired, I'm busy with whatever to accept their loving help. I felt that's what was more the situation.

Here we focus on the one semi-regular black character the Waltons knew, Verdie Grant. We first see her delivering a dress she made for Miss Hunter. The schoolteacher has clipped an article to give to her that might be of interest to Verdie's daughter, about to graduate college. Verdie behaves a bit awkwardly, but the reason isn't clear until the next scene, where Verdie's sister is speaking to her about hiding her inability to read and write.

Meanwhile, Olivia and Esther are taking a bus to Richmond for a wedding. We hear mention of Olivia having a sister, which stands out from almost all the rest of the series. Just after they leave, Erin reveals that she has a really sore throat and the doctor orders surgery for her tonsils to be removed.

Verdie is brought in to be a practical nurse for Erin for a few days. This allows her to be in the house while John-Boy is trying to help Elizabeth learn to write. John-Boy asks her to pretend to be another student to learn alongside Elizabeth. Verdie happily goes along, thinking this will help her without anyone knowing.

Thanks to her sister, Verdie realizes she can't keep up the act, so she directly asks John-Boy to teach her, making him promise to keep it quiet. He does so, but Elizabeth happens to see him teaching her.

Later, Elizabeth fibs to Miss Hunter, saying she couldn't do her homework because John-Boy was using her books to teach Mrs. Grant. Trying only to help, Miss Hunter wants to give Verdie some other materials to help her, and is surprised to find Verdie upset.

Verdie chews out John-Boy for breaking his agreement with her, thinking he is condescending to her because she is black, wondering if he has made her a laughingstock among his friends.

In the minor plot, Erin has decided she loves getting all sorts of attention, so she stays in her sick bed long after she needs to, until Olivia returns and teaches her a lesson.

What made this a powerful episode were the scenes of John-Boy teaching, beginning with the first one where he spoke to her about the magical wand that can be used to write words that make people laugh, cry, feel love, and more. Later, the joy on Verdie's face as she was learning, thinking how proud she would be to sign a hotel register or order from a menu were others scenes that made this a wonderful episode.

Verdie could be described as a "middle-aged, black woman." I match only the first two words, but putting myself in her place as she was learning something important definitely made my eyes water. Her anger when she felt betrayed was quite understandable, as was John-Boy's reaction. I started this review giving this episode 9 stars, but by now I realize it truly deserves a 10, the second episode in a row for this splendid first season that gets a 10 from me.

If you agree that only a small percentage of episodes deserve that top rating, I'll say that over the entire series, the last couple of seasons help make up for so many high scores in the initial season.

This episode aired on February 22nd 1973 with these opening words. When I was growing up on Waltons Mountain, the Great Depression touched our lives in many ways. Jobs were scarce, new clothes were rare; food was simple and mostly homegrown. What we had, we shared. My father taught us by his quiet practice that sharing was our first duty and happiest privilege and on one occasion, I had the opportunity to share an unforgettable experience with a woman who was trying to hide a secret. Verdie Grant, a neighbor of the Walton family, is illiterate, a fact that she has tried to keep a secret. Her daughter is about to graduate from college though, and she plans to go to visit for the graduation, and wants nothing more than to be able to sign her name on the register, and be able to read the menu when she goes out to dinner. She sees how patient John-Boy is when he is teaching Elizabeth to read and write and feels that he will be the perfect teacher for her. Her chance comes when Olivia and Esther go visiting relatives for a wedding and Erin becomes sick and needs her tonsils removed. Verdie is asked to look after Erin while the women of the family are away. John-Boy begins teaching her how to read and write as part of a game of playing school with Elizabeth. Verdie eventually does tell John-Boy the truth, and the two continue with their lessons, with John-Boy under strict instructions not to tell anybody. Word does get back to Verdie though, when Elizabeth tells her schoolteacher, Miss Hunter, that she couldn't do her homework because John-Boy was using her book to teach Mrs. Grant to read. Is John Boy able to Verdie how to read and write? Does Verdie get to go to her daughter's graduation? This episode was not so bad and I give this 5 weasel stars.