List of For Better or For Worse Characters - Minor Characters

Minor Characters

Eva Abuya

April's friend and classmate, who replaced Becky McGuire as the singer in the band 4Evah, leading it to be renamed 4Evah & Eva. She has taken the mantle of April's best friend, since Becky's drift from her old friends. She and Duncan appear to be interested in each other. When April's family moves out of the house, Eva notices April's spoiled attitude and believes she should be grateful.

Duncan Anderson

April's classmate and band mate in the group 4Evah & Eva.

Ruby Andrews

Candace's aunt. She owned a convenience store in Detroit Lakes, where her niece and Elizabeth went to university. Ruby was mugged while minding the store. She recovered and sold the business.

Thelma Baird

A kindly old woman who was the Patterson family's neighbour. A breeder of English sheepdogs, Thelma gave a puppy to her neighbours, who named him Farley. (Johnston chose the name to honour the American writer Farley Mowat.) Thelma moved into a seniors' residence where she became close to Ed. Her penultimate appearance was when she introduced her boyfriend to the Pattersons, and Elly and her friends expressed surprised that Thelma, an old widow, had rejuvenated her love life, causing them to wonder if they should be taking their marriages for granted. Her ultimate appearance was when Elly wished to keep her company, and Thelma invited her along as it was her bingo night. She died in her sleep of natural causes in 1988, causing the Pattersons to deal with the concept of death, especially Elizabeth, who was unfamiliar with seeing it herself and cried at losing a friend. Elizabeth later came to grips with the bereavement by depositing flowers on Mrs. Baird's grave and believing she now works as an angel looking over her house. Thelma had no living relatives, and her house was seized by the local government where it was eventually bought by Greg Thomas who brought his new wife Connie and stepson Lawrence back to Millborough from Thunder Bay. Thelma's death was the first one shown in the comic strip.

Jean Baker

John's longtime assistant at the dental clinic. In 1985, she had a daughter named Brittany.

Warren Blackwood

A helicopter pilot who kept up a long-distance friendship (with romantic overtones) with Elizabeth. In the spring of 2008 he visited Elizabeth with hopes of a deeper relationship, but discovered that she was engaged to Anthony. Warren wished Elizabeth well with Anthony, who, in turn, hoped that Warren would find the right woman for himself, and the two parted ways peacefully. Warren's biography on the official website shows that he has a brother and is an uncle to two boys and a girl.

Rhetta Blum

Michael's third girlfriend, from his later high school years. Their relationship ended during Michael's time at university: he dreamt of travelling and seeing the world and she wanted to stay at home in Millborough near her family. They reunited briefly, but Michael's growing attraction to Deanna and his discovery that Rhetta had met someone new led to him ending their relationship amicably by e-mail.

Nicholas Browne

Lawrence's domestic partner, with whom he co-owned Lakeshore Landscaping in North Branch.

Howard Bunt

An employee at Lawrence Poirier's landscaping business who stalked and assaulted Elizabeth in the summer of 2005. He was stopped by Anthony Caine and soon after was fired by Lawrence. He was eventually charged (the exact charge was never specified) and stood trial. On February 22, 2007, he was found guilty and sentenced to two years less a day in prison to be served without parole, and to also be placed in psychiatric treatment.

Françoise "Francie" Caine

Daughter of Anthony and Thérèse Caine who was born on March 7, 2005. She is in Anthony's custody. She has her father wrapped around her finger and managed to convince him to shave off his mustache, complaining that his facial hair made him look old. Francie misses Thérèse terribly; when the two meet when Elizabeth unexpectedly runs into Thérèse on a shopping trip, Francie is excited to see her. She is crestfallen when Thérèse seems more concerned that Francie liked the presents that Thérèse had sent her, saying, "But I don't want things, Mama... I want you!" Thérèse makes a hasty exit, telling Francie to go with Elizabeth and "promising" her that she will call. Though understandably jealous of the relationship between Anthony and Elizabeth at first, Francie has accepted Elizabeth as her stepmother and was a flower girl at Anthony and Elizabeth's wedding.

Thérèse Caine (née Arsenault)

Anthony's cold, indecisive, and uncaring first wife. The two had a contentious relationship, exacerbated by Anthony's lingering feelings for Elizabeth and possible pressures from both sides of their families. During their relationship, Thérèse was constantly paranoid that Anthony was cheating on her; so much so that she once accused Gordon's wife, Tracey, of hitting on Anthony. Thérèse did not want to give up her career to become a stay at home mother like her family wanted. When she became pregnant, Anthony was thrilled, but she was not. Nevertheless, she carried the baby to term. Anthony initially agreed to give up work and become a stay at home dad, allowing Thérèse to become the family breadwinner. However, once the child, named Françoise was born. Anthony tried to work and care for her. while Thérèse continued her work. When Thérèse's post-partum depression worsened, Anthony continued to be supportive of her and sought therapy for her. While her therapy did give her new confidence in herself. However, it gave her no will to really want to fix her marriage or spend time with her daughter. She vowed to continue her work, for herself. And she did excel, even though she spent more time away from home, as she got promoted. During the time apart from Anthony, Thérèse seemed happier, as did Anthony, until she coldly announced that she was having an affair with a client. The affair stunned Anthony, but more even more stunning was that Thérèse left Francie with him as if she were a piece of property. Even after having left Anthony, she still blamed him for "not being man enough" for her, but soon realized that he had remained committed to the marriage, which she had been unwilling to do. Thérèse's last appearance in the strip was an unexpected meeting with Elizabeth and Francie at the mall, where Thérèse revealed that she had been sending presents to her daughter. When Francie begged to spend more time with her, however, Thérèse quickly bolted out of the mall, leaving Francie devastated and crying in Elizabeth's arms. Thérèse's biography hints that things with her lover were not going well, but Anthony did not take pleasure in this turn of events, believing that Thérèse was still trying to find herself and wished every bit of happiness for her.

Everett Callahan

John's associate at the dental practice, a young dentist who is up-to-date with current techniques and procedures. John intended to turn the practice over to Everett when John retired. In the monthly letters, John occasionally referred to his associate as "Elliot."

Eric Chamberlain

Elizabeth's ex-boyfriend from university and roommate of Rudy, later Candace's boyfriend. Elizabeth moved in with Eric after her first year, but broke off the relationship when she caught him seeing another woman.

Gary Crane

The headmaster of the elementary school in Mtigwaki where Elizabeth taught. In one arc, he yelled at Mtigwaki children who were looking at Elizabeth baking cookies through her window in order to discourage Peeping Tom behavior. While Elizabeth admitted to Gary she felt the kids were doing it innocently, he replied they needed to be taught respect for other people's privacy, then later offered to help Elizabeth adjust to Indian village life by sharing his hobby of fishing. His surname was given as Crow on the 11 August 2008 strip when he and Vivian arrived for Elizabeth and Anthony's wedding. The strip on the official site was quickly fixed during the day, but copies posted elsewhere and printed in newspapers retained the error.

Vivian Crane

Gary's wife. She ran the medical station in Mtigwaki.

Allyson Creemore

An attractive blonde girl whom Gordon developed a monster crush upon during junior high, resulting in some hilarious sequences when Gordon freaked out seeing her shapely appearance. A cheerleader whom had an expected stereotypical "jock/cheerleader" relationship with an overconfident basketball player; her relationship hit a low point when her boyfriend had been drinking hard liquor at a semi-formal dance, which she was uncomfortable drinking herself, and the boyfriend left her outdoors in the snow while he proceeded to cause trouble at the dance whilst brawling with chaperones. Gordon came to Allyson's rescue by giving her his overcoat and hiring a taxi to take her home. Many years later, after Gordon married Tracey, Michael discovered Allyson had married a US Marine who had been stationed at a Canadian military base nearby after dating him for three months, then became an American after he moved back to the States.

Rudy Dodd

Candace's common-law husband. Once a roommate of Eric Chamberlain's at Nipissing University, he met Candace through Elizabeth and Eric and bonded with her instantly as, like her, he also had a troubled home life growing up. In Candace's biography on the website, it is said that she and Rudy are domestic partners. Although they never bothered to get a marriage license, they are shown to be in a committed monogamous relationship and are thinking of having a child together.

Susan Dokis

A young woman of Native descent who replaced Elizabeth as the primary grades teacher at the school in Mtigwaki. She was also a childhood friend of Paul Wright. Elizabeth broke off her relationship with Paul when she returned to Mtigwaki a day earlier than planned and found him at Susan's house. In the website official biography, though both Paul and Elizabeth contributed to the breakdown of their relationship, Susan pointedly blamed Elizabeth and believed that Paul's relationship with her did not have anything special.

Sharon Edwards

Elizabeth's favourite teacher during her middle school years. Sharon inspired Elizabeth greatly by building a teaching career despite being a paraplegic (there was an inconsistency in how she acquired her disability: in one strip she states that she was badly injured in a motorcycle crash as a teenager; earlier quotes infer that she was a wheelchair user from early childhood at least). Recently married and became Sharon Taylor.

Brian Enjo

Michael's former classmate and the son of Keith and Carol Enjo, neighbors of the Pattersons. Moved to Japan and married a Japanese woman, Junko. He and Michael keep in touch via e-mail. When Michael visited Japan reporting, Junko and Brian invited him to visit them.

Dawn Enjo

She became Elizabeth's friend when her family moved into Connie Poirier's former home. She was a descendant of Japanese-American immigrants. She became a graphic designer in Ottawa and married a man named David.

Gerald Forsythe / Delaney (both surnames were used in the strip)

April's boyfriend; also a member of the band 4Evah & Eva. He decided to forego university to become a full-time musician, and accepted Becky's offer to tour with her band for the summer. Gerald and April had many disagreements over such things as how he acted in front of the guys, Gerald's treatment of April's friend Shannon, and how she felt betrayed when he took Becky's offer. Eventually, April concluded that the relationship would not last and, at some point, broke up with Gerald. When it is hinted in the epilogue of the strip that April is living in the countryside with an unnamed country boyfriend.

Luis Guzman

Replaced Becky McGuire as the keyboard player for 4Evah after she leaves the band.

Jeremy Jones

Classmate of April. In elementary school, he mercilessly bullied her while she countered with an insulting song ("Wormy, germy Jeremy Jones"). The conflict culminated with an incident where Jeremy tried to run April down in a bicycle chase, only to crash into an oncoming car and suffer severe injuries. Because April showed the compassion to stay and call for help, and was the only child to visit him in the hospital, they reached a truce, but tended to avoid each other afterwards.

Melville & Winnie Kelpfroth

They moved into the apartment below Michael and Deanna's at Lovey Saltzman's property. He and his wife had no children and did not like the noise or clutter from the Patterson children, and would bang a broom on the ceiling at any noise from upstairs. Damage done to the ceiling prompted Lovey Saltzman to begin eviction proceedings. Melville smoked a cigar despite the "No Smoking" clause in his tenancy agreement, which led to the fire that destroyed most of the building. After the fire, they were reported to be in "serious condition" and did not appear again in the strip between then and the final original strip in 2008.

Kortney Krelbutz

Former assistant at Elly's bookstore. April suspected Kortney of assisting in a burglary and was threatened by Kortney when she confronted her. Elly preferred to think well of Kortney and dismissed April's concerns. Moira fired Kortney while Elly was on holiday in Mexico, resulting in Elly having to confront facts such as Kortney embezzling bookstore money and covering it up by forging receipts to nonexistent charities. Kortney retaliated by filing a wrongful termination lawsuit against Elly. The suit was thrown out after it was revealed that Moira's and April's suspicions were correct and that Kortney had indeed been an accessory in a felony theft at the bookstore.

Brad Luggsworth

A grade school classmate of Michael who bullied him in his elementary school days. Despite this, he had a soft spot for his hard-working mother. He significantly cleaned up his act as an adult and became a policeman following an enlistment in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Brad investigated a felony theft at Elly's bookstore in the 2000s, at which Elly was surprised to see the mature and handsome young man that he had become, since she had last seen him as a boy who bothered Michael. On Brad's official website biography, it is hinted that Brad's father was very abusive towards his wife, which traumatized the young Brad. His parents since divorced, and his father was in jail. With some determination on his part and some encouragement from a kind police officer, Brad was inspired to be a better man than his father. He is now happily married to his wife, Lisa, and is the proud father of a young son and an infant daughter.

Laurie McLeod-Shabogesic

Laurie is a real person living in Northern Ontario, and Lynn put her in the strip as a teaching assistant who helped out at Liz's school on the reserve. Laurie's real-life husband, Perry, and son Falcon also collaborated with Johnston on the Mtigwaki series of strips.

Martha McRae

Michael's first girlfriend, whom he met at summer camp. Following the summer's end, Martha and Michael ended up in the same school, but problems arose when Martha was found to be very open about their summer romance. When Michael failed his first driving test, he blamed it on Martha breaking off the relationship just before the test, when she had been asked out by another boy. Though Michael was heartbroken, he realized he had gotten over the breakup rather quickly. When high school graduation loomed, Gordon, who was a friend of Martha's, told Michael that she had regretted breaking up with Michael, and that she should never have left him. In later years, Martha was a divorced mother of twin girls who still lived in Ontario, working for a business near Michael's office. Martha and Michael would have a much better relationship in their adult years, sometimes meeting together for lunch at work. Michael also took advantage of his fiction writing to outline an alternate timeline in which he married Martha, speculating on what their life together might have been like.

Jesse Mukwa

A student in Elizabeth's school class at the Indian reserve in Mtigwaki. It was he who brought Elizabeth the abandoned kitten she named Shiimsha (the Ogibway word for 'friend', since she was adopted from the reserve.)

The New Bentwood Rockers

A jazz band of senior musicians assembled by Jim at the retirement home where he lives. Years earlier, while living in Vancouver, he had formed an earlier band known as the Bentwood Rockers.

Anne Nichols

The Pattersons' longtime neighbour. For years a housewife and babysitter, in later years she managed the food and catering services at Milborough's Empire Hotel. A close confidante of Elly in the early years of the strip, she began to appear less often, in part because of her perpetually rocky marriage, partly modeled after Johnston's first marriage, which ended in divorce. Anne confronted her husband Steve with her suspicions that was having an affair: he confessed and ended teh affair. Though she was obviously hurt, Anne stayed with Steve because she did not believe in divorce. In her biography on the official website, she did give Steve a warning that if he slipped up again, she would leave him and take the children. The Nicholses had three children: Christopher, who was about the same age as Elizabeth, Richard, about three years younger and the first birth to appear in the strip, and Leah, who was best remembered for having been born with six fingers on each hand. Anne's children have all grown up and her son Christopher is now married. While her marriage is not ideal, she is still happy with her husband.

Dennis North

A friend of Lawrence and Nicholas. He was Elizabeth's escort to Anthony's wedding and to a New Year's Eve party at Gord and Tracey's house. Although Dennis claimed to be homosexual, he confided to Elizabeth his feelings for her when he was her date to the wedding.

Kevin Smyth

A surgeon who recruited Deanna for a six-month medical mission to Honduras after she graduated from university in 1999.

Mira Sobinski (named Eva in her earliest appearances)

Deanna's mother, portrayed as obnoxious and over-bearing, although she confessed to Lovey Saltzman that she only wanted her children to have the best in life and the dream wedding that she herself had never had. She delighted in her grandchildren, frequently bringing them new clothes, toys and furniture, despite Deanna's protestations.

Wilfred Sobinski

Deanna's father; a hardware store owner. He was largely quiet, but at times could be forceful, such as when he bluntly ordered his wife to quit worrying about Deanna and that his daughter and son-in-law were quite capable of handling their own problems without her helicopter parenting. When Michael kicked out Mira after her harping on him for having too small a place to support a second child, Wilfred sided with Michael and ushered Mira out.

Carleen Stein

"Weed's" long-time photographic assistant, later his girlfriend.

Greg Thomas

Connie's second husband, and father of Gayle and Molly. Connie met Greg when she was living in Thunder Bay and, after dating for several months, proposed to him. Greg worked for a bank and was transferred to Milborough where he and Connie bought Thelma Baird's former house next door to the Pattersons' home. Gayle and Molly moved to St. Paul with their father and stepmother, but had a difficult relationship with their stepmother and both girls disappeared from the strip; it was later said that Gayle had become a midwife, married an American man and moved to the United States and Molly had left Milborough years earlier to live with her mother in Thunder Bay. When Lawrence admitted he was gay as a teenager, Greg threw him out of the house, only to reconsider his decision and accept him.

Molly Thomas

Greg's younger daughter, a stepdaughter to Connie and stepsister to Lawrence. Two story arcs had centered around Molly; the first being her moodiness in adjusting to her father's remarriage and resisting Connie's attempts to bond with her, to which Elly attempted to guide Connie. A second story was when Lawrence told Brian, Gordon and Michael on how to spy on Molly through a tree while she was in her underwear. This resulted in Michael being caught by Molly while Brian and Gordon managed to get away. An enraged Elly read Michael the riot act for spying on women in their underwear and demanded John punish Michael, but John confided in Elly that he cannot be too hard on Michael for hypocrisy on account of him doing the same action at Michael's age. Molly and Gayle spent most of their teenage years giving Connie a hard time as their stepmother. In Connie's biography on the official website, both girls have calmed down during adulthood. They have each married and have children of their own. Both Molly and Gayle accept Connie now more as their children's grandmother.

Shawna-Marie Verano

A high-school classmate of Elizabeth. It was her wedding in the summer of 2007 that set the stage for Elizabeth and Anthony's reunion as a couple.

Paul Wright

A policeman with family in Mtigwaki and Elizabeth's last boyfriend before her marriage to Anthony. When Elly fell asleep on the drive home to Milborough, Paul and his partner let her spend the night at the police station. Elly showed Paul a large glossy photograph of Elizabeth and, when he discovered that Elly had forgotten her sunglasses at the police station, Paul decided to return them to Mtigwaki as an excuse to meet Elizabeth. Elly immediately thought of him as "Mr. (W)Right". Paul and Elizabeth were shown in a loving, close relationship, which ended when Elizabeth returned to Mtigwaki a day earlier than expected. She found out that Paul had been cheating on her with Susan Dokis, his childhood friend and the teacher who had replaced Elizabeth after she decided not to renew her teaching contract. On the official website, besides his infidelity with Susan, it is hinted that Paul became distant with her out of jealousy of her close friendship with Anthony.

Ben

Lawrence's boyfriend. He was seen only once in the strip at Lawrence's high school graduation. He later left for Paris to study piano at Le Conservatoire and Lawrence decided to end the relationship.