Frances Bavier may be best known for her role as the kind-hearted but firm Aunt Bee on The Andy Griffith Show, but she infamously wasn’t much like her character in real life. Behind the soft smile was a Broadway-trained actress who often felt at odds with her most famous role and her castmates. However, when the cameras stopped rolling, Bavier found a quiet retirement and, surprisingly, a final sense of home in a small North Carolina town called Siler City.

But first, let’s take a look back on her early years.