Andy Griffith, Youth Choir Director

Youth choir director in Burlington, N.C.

Andy Griffith spent a small part of his early life here, directing church music, singing in the adult choir and giving voice lessons at First Christian Church, now First Christian United Church of Christ, while he was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Based on old Times-News articles, local historian Walter Boyd said Griffith commuted from Chapel Hill in 1948, riding with a fellow student who was from Burlington. The church’s secretary was quoted in the newspaper in the 1960s, after Griffith gained fame, as saying the church office still had canceled checks showing he was paid $50 a month.