- Narrator: [narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] In 1942 the coming of spring to Waltons Mountain brought a keener appreciation for all living things than ever before. With the rest of the world in chaos, here we felt a sense of life renewing itself. For my sister, Mary Ellen, it was a time when she was emerging from a painful winter and struggling to achieve a renewal of her own.