goldengoosenerus
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They were the Modern Family of their time, back when cars sported tailfins, Americans raced the Russians to the moon and everybody liked Ike.
They were the Cleavers, delivering a bit of sanitized Americana every week on the TV sitcom Leave It to Beaver: stalwart dad Ward, hormonal older brother Wally, trouble-prone kid brother Theodore (better known as "the Beaver," for his oversized front teeth), and the always perfectly coiffed, calm and collected mother, June, played by actress Barbara Billingsley.
Billingsley, 94, died early Saturday morning at her home in Santa Monica, Golden Goose Sneakers Sale Calif., after a long illness.
"Barbara was a Golden Goose patient advisor and teacher. She helped me along this challenging journey through life by showing me the importance of manners and respect for others," Jerry Mathers, 62, who played the Beaver from 1957-63, said in a statement. "She will be missed by all of her family, friends, fans and, most especially, by me."
"She was as happy as a lark being recognized as America's mom," Tony Dow, 65, who played Wally, told CNN. "She had a terrific life and had a wonderful impact on everybody she knew, and even people she didn't know."
Like a Death in the FamilyThough Beaver became an iconic show whose reruns on cable networks also proved popular to subsequent generations, to Baby Boomers, Billingsley's death is like losing a close relative. Indeed, her June Cleaver was the last of a line idealized TV moms, one prettier than the next: Harriet Nelson, of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Jane Wyatt's Margaret Anderson, of Father Knows Best; and Donna Reed's Donna Stone, of The Donna Reed Show.
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