Remembering “Brady Bunch” Mom Florence Henderson — as the show celebrates its 50th Anniversary

She was television’s top stay-at-home-mom who helped to raise countless viewers of all ages, while her carefree and unassuming spirit was revered within and outside the entertainment industry.

She was a virtual maternal presence from a distance, yet no less sincere, far or near, through the looking glass of family television. She was as a fine tapestry in a media mosaic of motherhood, as we watched her on the TV set and, in turn, became the “TV set” she helped to shape.

An actress who sang, and a singer who acted, she was first and foremost adored as Carol Brady on the long-running, multi-sequel-making sitcom The Brady Bunch, which aired on ABC Friday nights from 1969 to 1974.

She was Florence Henderson, born on Valentine’s Day, and who left the day before Thanksgiving in 2016. Kayla Pressman, Henderson’s manager for over 40 years, spoke for millions of Henderson’s fans when she talked with CNN about her dear client and friend who succumbed to heart failure at age 82. “We are all in a state of shock,” Pressman said.

Christopher Knight was middle son Peter Brady in the famed Brady brood headed by Henderson and her TV husband Mike Brady (portrayed by Robert Reed, who died in 1994), and helped along by live-in…