by Jan Karon
I’ve done my best to include every character who might add anything of significance to the story lines. However—I may have missed a few. If so, I hope you’ll pencil them into the list. And if I’ve included some who, in your opinion, have no significance whatsoever, I ask your forgiveness in advance.
Cast of Characters
(in order of appearance)
AT HOME IN MITFORD
Father Timothy Andrew Kavanagh: Known to nearly everyone as Father Tim, he turns sixty as the series opens, and seventy before the series ends. Thus we glimpse just ten years in the life of an ordinary man, and find it filled, rather equally, with the mundane and the miraculous.
Born an only child in Holly Springs, Mississippi, to a warm-spirited Baptist mother and a coldly indifferent Episcopalian father, he was interested in things of the soul from an early age. Enjoys Wordsworth, Oswald Chambers, C. S. Lewis, G. K. Chesterton,
George McDonald, and the two books of Timothy, which he feels were written as directly to him as to St. Paul’s beloved sidekick.
To put a fine point on it, Timothy Kavanagh is the real thing, the genuine article. And yes, there are clergy like him. But only a few. Only a very few.
Emma Garrett: Father Tim’s part-time secretary is the quintessential “bane and blessing.” Impertinent, holier-than-thou, thick-skinned—but also big-hearted, thoughtful, and intensely loyal. Approach her boss intending harm, and she will scratch your eyes out, plain and simple. Widowed, and soft on the postman.
Harold Newland: Speaking of the postman…Harold is a good sort who looks forward to wearing his summer postal service uniform of shorts and knee socks. A bit of a farmer in his off-hours.
Bishop Stuart Cullen: Father Tim’s buddy in seminary, now old friend and confidante. Though dogged by schedules and overwork, all important missives are penned “by his own hand,” an example set by St. Paul.
Martha Cullen: The over-stretched bishop’s good wife, who monitors his physical and emotional stamina, urging him to bed when he persists in muddling through diocesan matters by the light of midnight oil.
Peggy Cramer: Ah! Peggy Cramer. We never meet her in the Mitford Series, we only sense her presence, something like the drift of an alluring but unidentifiable fragrance on the breeze. Long story short, Father Tim was engaged to her while in seminary. Not a good idea.
Percy Mosely: Grumpy, hot-headed, exhausted—the usual scenario with someone in the restaurant business. Proprietor of the Main Street Grill, which he inherited from his father, who inherited it from his father, and so on back into unrecorded history. Serves a mean bowl of buttered grits.
Velma Mosely: Percy’s wife. Takes no prisoners. Waits the several tables and booths at the Grill.
Hessie Mayhew: Such a good egg, Hessie! Robs the town’s peony bushes, strips the hedgerows, and rogues her neighbor’s hydrangeas—all to make glorious wedding bouquets for marrying members of the community. A widow and a Presbyterian, though not necessarily in that order.
Miss Rose Watson: A favorite Mitfordian. Indeed, she inspires the way I dress to go to the post office. Wears her long-deceased brother’s military jackets, combat boots, with cocktail hats adorned by mashed flowers. Schizophrenic. Fierce. Married to one of the dearest fellows in fiction or in truth.
Uncle Billy Watson: Little did I know he would become a truly beloved friend to your author. For the ten plus years I wrote this series, he and I scattered to the four winds trying to find clean jokes to make you laugh. As someone who not only put up with, but loved, Miss Rose, he is to be counted noble among men.
Esther Cunningham: The best mayor Mitford ever had, or possibly ever will have. Her motto: Mitford Takes Care of Its Own. Who sees to it that the Watsons have oil in their tank for winter? Who goes to the hospital to rock the “crack babies” that occasionally turn up? Who robbed her own family room to furnish the town office? Go, Esther!
Winnie Ivey: A hard-working, good-hearted woman, who gave Mitford a crossroads for the whole town in her beloved Sweet Stuff Bakery.
Miss Sadie Baxter: I am ill-equipped to treat such a noteworthy character in only a few words. Suffice it to say that the elderly mistress of Fernbank was a type of hub on which the wheel of Mitford turned more sweetly. Rich, but wisely stingy, she invested well, earned much, and gave freely. Her life will greatly affect many lives in Mitford, now and in the future.
Hal Owen: Veterinarian who owns Meadowgate Farm (and an animal clinic), fifteen or twenty minutes from Mitford. Longtime friend of Father Tim, and active in the life of Lord’s Chapel.
Marge Owen: Hal’s wife and Father Tim’s first friend in Mitford. A grand cook and ardent gardener.
Walter Kavanagh: Father Tim’s first cousin, and, as far as is known, his only living blood relative. An attorney in New Jersey.
Katherine Kavanagh: Walter’s fun-loving wife, who has a ministry to the elderly. A great sport. Calls Father Tim by the affectionate nickname, Teds.
Louella Baxter Marshall: Bosomy. Like a down pillow. But tough. Miss Sadie likes to say she “raised” Louella, who, over the years, has been housekeeper, confidante, friend, and sister in Christ. Bakes a mean biscuit.
Dr. Walter Harper: Known to all as “Hoppy.” Harvard man. Looks a dash like Walter Pidgeon. Overworked. Beloved.
Harry Nelson: Lord’s Chapel parishioner. A pain. Just ask Emma.
Charlie Garrett: Emma’s deceased husband.
Mule Skinner: The kind of fellow who orders a cheeseburger without cheese, a BLT without lettuce. Hangs out at the Grill; makes Velma Mosely crazy. A town realtor, and old pal of the rector.
Willard Porter: Brother to Rose Watson. Was in love with Miss Sadie Baxter and, regrettably, died in France in combat. He built what is commonly called “the old Porter place,” a Victorian mansion on the town green, now the home of his Miss Rose and Uncle Billy.
Susan Parnell Phillips: A realtor from the big city, who tried to wheedle the Porter place from the Watsons. Just doing what a girl sometimes has to do.
Rachel Livingstone Baxter: Miss Sadie’s long-deceased mother, and former mistress of Fernbank.
Fancy Skinner: Mitford hairdresser. Mule’s wife. Talks a mile a minute. If you see her coming, duck.
Hattie Cloer: Has a little grocery store on the bypass, and a Chihuahua named Darlene. As Hattie is a notorious hypochondriac, one shops at Cloer’s Market only in desperation.
Clyde Cloer: Hattie’s long-suffering husband. Avis Packard: Proprietor of Mitford’s Main Street grocery store, The Local. “One thing Father Tim liked about Avis Packard was the way he got excited about his vegetables.” A veritable poet in describing his comestibles; a bachelor known to be “married to his work.”
Luther Lovell: Luther and his boys raise fryers and baking hens down in the valley, exclusively for The Local.
Dora Pugh: Runs the hardware store. Enjoys dressing the display windows in accordance with the seasons.
Uncle Haywood: But for the prompting of Miss Sadie’s long-deceased uncle, Miss Sadie and her mother would never have gone to Paris, where they met a bright young chap from Mitford, of all places. The plot thickens.
China Mae: China Mae washed, ironed, and cooked for Miss Sadie’s mother at Fernbank. One day, the young Miss Sadie came home from school and found a little brown baby lying in China Mae’s bed. It was Louella. Miss Sadie liked to help bathe and dress Louella, and pull her around in her wagon. They were sisters from the beginning.
Joe Hadleigh: If it hadn’t been for Joe Hadleigh willing his little house in Mitford to his niece, Father Tim would never have met the children’s book author and illustrator who moved into it, right next door to the rectory. So, let’s hear it for Uncle Joe.
Father Jeffrey Roland: Rector of a New Orleans parish, an ardent letter writer, and old friend of the rector. Doesn’t hesitate to ask for money for a good cause, which, of course, is a good thing.
J. C. Hogan: Editor of the Mitford Muse. Until late in the series, he refused to upgrade his softwa
re with SpellCheck, resulting in this now-famous headline: MAN CONVICTED OF WRECKLESS DRIVING.
Pearly McGee: Resident of the Assisted Living annex at Mitford Hospital. At her death, left $1,400 in a Pearly McGee Happiness Fund, which the rector prayerfully dispensed on her behalf.
Andrew Gregory: The owner of Oxford Antiques on South Main
Street, Andrew is tall, trim, and handsome. Indeed, Father Tim usually feels short, fat, and homely in his company. But not to worry…
Russell Jacks: The sexton at Lord’s Chapel for many years, and the grandfather of Dooley Barlowe.
Dooley Barlowe: We meet the freckled, red-haired Dooley at the age of eleven. Abandoned by his parents to a grandfather unable to care for him, he ends up on Father Tim’s doorstep—a circumstance which will change many lives, forever.
Puny Bradshaw: Though this earnest young housekeeper was thrust upon the unwilling rector by a vestry concerned for his health, Father Tim comes to love her as his own. Most of my readers yearn for their own Puny Bradshaw. Indeed, she is the cream of the cream.
Ray Cunningham: I’m wild about this fellow. Retired, and married to Mitford’s Type-A mayor, Esther, he spends his time serving her as she labors to serve the community. He might call up and say, “How about me runnin’ up there with a jar of lemonade, Sweet Pea?” Or, “Hurry home after your meetin’, Doll Face, we’re havin’ ribs an’ cole slaw.”
Joe Ivey: Father Tim’s longtime barber and a former security guard at Graceland. Keeps a little peach brandy on hand for special customers.
Rodney Underwood: Mitford’s overzealous Chief of Police.
Luther: Miss Sadie’s handyman.
Roberta Simpson: A wealthy summer resident of Mitford, whom parishioners tried to foist on their bachelor priest. “Better hook this one,” somebody advised. “You could afford to give up preachin’.”
Becky Nelson: A petite and charming widow who thought Wordsworth was a Dallas department store. The subject of still another valiant, but failed, effort by Lord’s Chapel matchmakers.
Dottie Newland: Mother of Harold Newland, the postman.
Reba Cooley: A recent widow whom Father Tim meets on a house call with Hal Owen, to deliver a calf.
Ron Malcolm: Parishioner, retired contractor; heads a committee to oversee the building of Hope House.
Jeb Reynolds: A parishioner involved with the Hope House project.
Harold Johnson: An early schoolmate of Father Tim’s, whose knowledge of farm life the rector had found enviable.
Raymond Lereaux: An early schoolmate who “showed horses and won blue ribbons that he brought to school for Show and Tell.”
Jessica Raney: When disease wiped out Father Tim’s entire herd of rabbits as a boy, she sent a card expressing sympathy. “He put it in his sock drawer, where it stayed for a very long time.”
Olivia Davenport: Smart and attractive, wise in the Scriptures. Moves to Mitford to face certain death, and finds new life instead.
Cynthia Coppersmith: Blonde, beautiful, spirited; an award-winning writer and illustrator of children’s books about her white, green-eyed cat, Violet. Moves into the little yellow house next door to the rectory, which teaches Father Tim the wisdom, and then some, of Matthew 22:39. “Great legs,” observes Mule Skinner. All in all, a prize catch for our affable rector, who thinks so himself.
Evie Adams: Poor Evie. Can’t leave her mother alone a minute, or who knows what will happen?
Miss Pattie: Known to have put the wet laundry in the oven. Said to take a bath with a hat on. Once gave away her daughter, Evie’s, favorite garden sculpture—to a tourist, more’s the pity.
Buster Austin: Dooley’s archenemy.
Myra Hayes: Mitford School’s no-nonsense principal.
Jenna Ivey: Owner of the local florist shop, Mitford Blossoms. I have incorrectly spelled her name “Jenna” in some of the books—which counts as yet another “Oops” for your author.
Marlene: A new resident in Mitford, who find the bachelor supply disappointing, if not downright depressing.
Lew Boyd: Owner of Lew Boyd’s Exxon, still often referred to as “th’ Esso station.” Widowed. Proud of his canned pickles.
Rebecca Jane Owen: Daughter born to Marge and Hal Owen.
Esther Bolick: Married to Gene. Creator of the now-legendary recipe for Orange Marmalade Cake. If she never does another thing for society, she once mused, that recipe would be enough. (See recipe on page 100.)
Hilda Lassiter: A parishioner who, when the Orange Marmalade Cake went missing from the church kitchen, “like to cried when they couldn’t find it.”
Marge Houck: A parishioner whose “pineapple upside down” didn’t have enough distinction, apparently, to be stolen in the caper cited above.
Samuel K. (“Homeless”) Hobbes: A wounded veteran of the advertising business who moves back to Little Mitford Creek, and resumes speaking in his native vernacular. Reads widely; friend and confidante of the rector.
Parkinson Hamrick, Lydia Newton: Two parishioners whose ashes are contained in urns in the hall closet of Lord’s Chapel.
Parrish Guthrie: An old so-and-so if ever there was one. Miss Sadie left strict directions to place her ashes at a great distance from Mr. Guthrie’s. What did the old galoot do, anyway? The Mitford books never tell us, but here’s the scoop. He helped himself to funds from the church treasury, though he was as rich as Croesus by anybody’s post-Depression standards. His beleaguered wife, Netta, left Mitford and never returned, which the Lord’s Chapel choir considered a woeful loss given Netta’s glorious soprano. Legend has it that her beloved dog, Wolfie, found his way back to Mitford where he was taken in by Percy Mosely’s daddy. Some say Wolfie lived at the Grill, and slept under the table of the rear booth, long occupied in later years by Father Tim, Mule Skinner, and J. C. Hogan.
Nurse Herman: Head of the nursing staff at Mitford Hospital; Hoppy Harper’s right arm. Solves a major mystery in Light From Heaven.
Pauline Barlowe: Dooley’s mother. Pauline’s long and ravaging years of alcoholism scattered Dooley and his siblings, Pooh, Jessie, Sammy, and Kenny, to the four winds. One of the themes of the Mitford series is based upon a verse from Joel 2:25: “I will restore unto you the days the locusts have eaten….”
Ida Jacks: Russell Jacks’s deceased wife.
Dr. Leo Baldwin: A distinguished surgeon at Mass General, who plays a major role in the lives of both Olivia Davenport and Hoppy Harper.
Absalom Greer: An old-fashioned revival preacher of a most singular sort. Self-educated, obedient to God, an esteemed friend of the rector. One of my sworn favorites among the Mitford characters.
Coot Hendrick: An old coot, what can I say?
Bailey Coffey: As above.
Dr. Wilson: Hoppy Harper’s new hire, but who wants their appendix removed by the new hire? Mitford doesn’t like change, but all’s well that ends well.
Pete Jamison: Part of a later much-talked-about “two-for-one deal.”
As Father Tim led a stranger, Pete Jamison, in a prayer that surrendered Pete’s life to Christ, someone was listening.
Joe Joe Guthrie: One of the nearly two dozen grandchildren of Esther and Ray Cunningham. An officer for the MPD.
Lottie Miller/Greer: Absalom’s widowed/divorced sister. This confusion of surname and marital history is explained in an essay entitled “Oops,” on p. 443.
Mrs. Kershaw: Olivia Davenport’s devoted housekeeper.
George Gaynor: I think it was Sandburg who said, “No surprise in the author, no surprise in the reader.” I hope you were as surprised as I was when George Gaynor made his appearance at Lord’s Chapel.
Uncle Chester: Father Tim’s long-deceased uncle on his mother’s side, who was fond of saying, “Circumstances alter cases.”
Betty Craig: Good-hearted Betty! A local nurse who cares for patients in her home, and will step up to the plate for Father Tim on several occasions in the series.
Omer Cunningham: Mayor Cunningham’s brother-in-l
aw. Aviator. Hail-fellow-well-met. Gets the rector out of a jam more than once in the Mitford chronicles.
Marcie Guthrie: One of four beautiful, well-built Cunningham daughters. Joe Joe’s mama, and grandmother of seven; employed at the Oxford Antique Shop.
Uncle Gus: Actually, a great-uncle of Father Tim on the maternal side, who said, in describing the rector’s mother and father: “A high-falutin’, half-frozen Episcopalian and a hidebound, Bible-totin’ Baptist!”
Tommy: Dooley’s first friend in Mitford.
Tommy Noles: Father Tim’s boyhood friend, often mentioned in the series.
Miss Lureen Thompson: Miss Lureen was the mistress of Boxwood, a fine, early home that stood where Mitford’s First Baptist Church stands today. Her parents died in a fall from an overhanging rock where they were picnicking. Miss Lureen’s chauffeur, Soot Tobin, was Louella Baxter Marshall’s father.
Mr. Kingsley: All we know of him is that he tutored the young Miss Sadie, and had “the worst bad breath in the world.”
Amos Medford: Grazed his cows on the village green, where the Porter place stands today.
Miss Lydia, Miss Caroline: Suffice it to say they were, and are, vitally important in the lives of two of Mitford’s loveliest souls.
Kenny Barlowe: Dooley’s oldest brother and best friend.
Jessie Barlowe: Dooley’s baby sister.
Henry (variously Poobaw, Pooh, and Poo) Barlowe: Dooley’s youngest brother.
Sammy Barlowe: Dooley’s next-to-oldest brother. Jenny: A pretty—and persevering—young neighbor of Father Tim’s.
Elizabeth Mooney: When she was twelve, Father Tim took her to see a movie, Flying Tigers, while her parents waited in a nearby café, drinking coffee.
Nurse Kennedy: Another of the indispensable nurses at Mitford Hospital, and Joe Joe Guthrie’s first cousin.
Elliott: Cynthia Coppersmith’s former husband. A senator and a “womanizer,” but not necessarily in that order.
David: Elliott’s nephew, with whom Cynthia got to be “the fastest of friends and comrades.”