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John Schneider fan from Holland finds a kindred
soul
By Bill Whitaker
In a world of strife and misunderstanding, John Schneider,
the handsome hunk from "The Dukes of Hazzard," has unwittingly
done his bit for international harmony.
For the past two weeks, 24-year-old Anne Marije van der Gaag
of Gouda, Holland, has been learning about America, thanks to
a pen-pal friendship she struck up last year with Lee Ann Johnson,
30, through the auspices of the John Schneider Fan Club.
That's right - the John Schneider Fan Club.
One lesson Anne has gained: Contrary to her initial beliefs
watching TV as a youngster in Holland, America is not at all like
"The Dukes of Hazzard."
"As long as I remember, I have wanted to come to America,"
Anne said, recalling her days as an 8-year-old watching "The
Dukes of Hazzard" on Dutch TV. "I used to think that
was how typical American families were - like Hazzard County."
Such was the global power of one of the corniest, most beloved
TV shows of the early 1980s.
For those too young to remember, the show concerned two Georgia
hillbilly hunks (Bo and Luke Duke), busty Cousin Daisy, a beefy,
ham-bone nemesis named "Boss Hogg," and a souped-up
stock car named "General Lee." It was critically despised
- and a smash-hit with viewers.
TOM WOPAT CALLING
The fact a John Schneider Fan Club exists in this day and age
might strike one as amazing. Actually, the fan club gained new
energy recently when The Nashville Network began airing old "Dukes
of Hazzard" episodes, to great response.
"John Schneider was my teen-age idol when I was 12 or
13," Hawley native Lee Ann Johnson told me. "I had him
all over my walls. He was a teen heart-throb back then, and now
that the show is on TNN, it brings it all back to me.
"It's like re-living your childhood."
So much the better, then, to have someone to relive it with.
Lee Ann, who today lives in Abilene and works for The Delta
Group, got to know Anne Marije, a Dutch-English translator, last
November, when they met through the John Schneider Fan Club pen-pal
network. They soon discovered how similar their passions were.
"When we started sending audio tapes to each other, we
couldn't believe how much we had in common," Lee Ann said.
"I mean, it's seldom you have in common with someone a love
of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' and John Schneider!
"We also both loved Elvis and we both liked heavy metal
bands at one point," she said, "and yet, here we came
from different countries and cultures."
Their budding friendship was such that, when Lee Ann went to
a Tom Wopat musical gig in Texarkana last September and got a
chance to talk to Schneider's co-star, she used her cellular phone
to dial Anne in Holland where it was 4 a.m. She then asked baffled
Tom Wopat to chat with "weirded-out" Anne.
"But then, I'd kept her up most of the night anyway,"
Lee Ann said. "I'd call her occasionally during the night
and let her listen to the concert."
Although Anne had never left her native Holland before and
had never even flown in an airplane, she decided meeting another
devotee of John Schneider was worth it. And so she came to America
(and aboard a unusually turbulent flight, too).
JUST LIKE IN HAZZARD COUNTY
Lee Ann has tried to make it worth Anne's while, even talking
ever-patient husband Craig into taking them both to Graceland
to pay homage to The King. They also shopped around for "Dukes
of Hazzard" merchandise, which are still manufactured.
The most eye-catching stop so far: Visiting the Wal-Mart Super
Center. Holland has nothing like it.
Another highlight surfaced when Lee Ann took Anne to Hawley.
At one point, they were at the home of Lee Ann's parents, Frank
and Mary June Jones, when an ol' rattler made its presence known
outside. Lee Ann's dad was off playing golf, which meant someone
else had to be found to dispatch the snake.
Hawley Police Chief Carrol Versyp was immediately dispatched
to quell the fearsome rattler with a shotgun, much to Anne Marije's
fascination. But it didn't end there.
Impressed by the lawman's drawl, star and cowboy boots, Anne
made the astonished policeman hoist the dead, 4-foot rattler up
with a hoe, then shot a picture of the scene. This, it seems,
would be something to cherish for all time.
"I think she felt a little like she was on 'The Dukes
of Hazzard,'" Lee Ann told me, "but it took going to
Hawley to do it."
Anne Marije van der Gaag's summary of her exciting visit to
Hawley: "That was cool."
Which is probably the first time anyone's said that about Hawley.
Bill Whitaker, who understands there is also a Tom Wopat Fan
Club, can be reached by his own fans at 676-6732. E-mail: WTWARN@aol.com.
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Copyright ©1996 or
1997, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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