Don Knotts was funny his whole life, but he took a break on December 27, 1947, to get married.
In the days after Christmas, the staff at Morgantown magazine will be lounging in our sweatpants, eating leftovers, and watching back-to-back holiday shows.
But on December 27 in 1947, 76 years ago, Morgantown favorite son Don Knotts, a senior at WVU, visited a grand historical structure in Wheeling with his classmate and fiancee, Kathryn Metz, to get married.
Kay Metz’s father, Carl Metz, was a minister at the First Baptist Church in Wheeling at the time, and he married them. If you’ve ever been to Wheeling, you’ve probably seen the building where their marriage took place. It wasn’t the mid-century building on the National Road that the church moved into in 1959 and occupies today—it was the imposing 1836 Greek Revival structure at 1206 Byron Street downtown.
Invite a little of our native funnyman into your holiday sweatpants lounging with these classic TV episodes, streaming now:
- The 1960 first-season Andy Griffith Show episode titled “Christmas Story,” in which Knotts, of course, plays the lovable Barney Fife;
- The 1989 Matlock Christmas episode “The Scrooge,” with Knotts as the inimitable Les Calhoun; and
- Step by Step’s 1993 Christmas episode “Christmas Story,” which Knotts had a cameo in.
Happy lounging!
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM MORGANTOWN LOWDOWN