Shelley Fabares

“The chances of a child coming through as I did... the world is too hard. On the other hand, I would always encourage children of mine if they wanted to be in school plays and dance and sing. But I wouldn't put them to work.”

“I was dying but suddenly had a second chance at living.”

“They had to match blood type and meet all sorts of things I don't know about.”

“There is a bedrock decency to people in the Midwest. They are thoughtful and ready to help you if something needs to be done.”

“I think the years on 'The Donna Reed Show,' the years from 14 to 19, were so incredibly important. Donna Reed was simply an extraordinary woman, a woman of great strength, kindness, integrity and compassion. I am not trying to make her sound like a saint, but she had the most profound influence on me. I carry her with me today.”

“I had to have a complete liver transplant. I waited with a beeper for a year and 10 months to get that gift.”

“I didn't have a dysfunctional childhood or young adulthood, but I was somebody who was very much raised to do what other people told me to do as a person.”

“We need to appreciate how precious life is.”

“One can't change one's life experience, but even if I could, I wouldn't change it because of all the wonderful things that have happened to me.”

“I had to have a complete liver transplant.”

“This is the kind of situation that can tear people apart. It tears at the fabric of your soul and can certainly tear at your marriage and ours has gotten only stronger.”

“I was not a Mouseketeer, but a lot of people think I was.”

“I can't think of my life without Donna Reed. She has been such an enormous influence on my life.”

“I waited with a beeper for a year and 10 months to get that gift.”

“It's a terrifying thing to be perhaps 16 or 17 and feel like you are a failure and a has-been.”