List of For Better or For Worse Characters - Supporting Characters

Supporting Characters

Anthony Caine

Elizabeth's former high school boyfriend turned husband, worked for Gordon Mayes. In his biography on the official website, Anthony had a troubled family life, an inattentive mother,and a cold-business like father; something that both he and Thérèse shared. Though he was happy for a time with his stepmother, things would go distant when she unintentionally revealed that she was not happy with just Anthony and wanted her own child. His stepmother Clarice, would go through many hormone treatments, making her very moody for Anthony to be around. With his somewhat unpaternal father, this made Anthony very neglected and possibly depressed. His half-sister Abby would be born in 1995. While he did like his sister, he was a bit jealous of how his parents practically neglected him, once more. But he found that he had good parental figures in his step-grandparents. Although he had bad times, his stepmother and half sister still remained part of his life more than his father. After a many set of on/off again relationship with Liz, met and eventually Thérèse. The two had a strained relationship for many reasons, one could be Thérèse's constant paranoia and some what domineering over him, pressures from both their families, and his still hindering feelings fro Elizabeth. The relationship ultimately collapsed due to their deal: she would be allowed to keep her job if she gave him a child, who he basically tend to their daughter. Anthony followed with the deal, but Thérèse's postpartum depression, then deciding to be more focused on work(neglecting him and their daughter), and her affair behind his back and ultimately abandoning him. During their deteriorating marriage and then her abandonment, Clarice came to his aid as a babysitter and insisted he get out to relieve his nerves. Anthony reunited with Elizabeth after saving her from a would-be rapist. After finalizing his divorce from Thérèse, the two became engaged and were married on August 25, 2008. The series' epilogue strip projects that Anthony will rekindle Elizabeth's love of ballroom dancing and develop an interest in opening a bed and breakfast with her when they eventually retire. He and Elizabeth also became the proud parents of James Allen, who was born before grandfather Jim's death in 2010.

Bev and Dan Cruikshank

John Patterson's sister and her husband who operated a family farm, formerly owned by her father Will, outside of Winnipeg. Dan managed the farm and Bev was a veterinarian. Their daughter Laura worked on the farm and assisted her mother with the veterinary practice. The Patterson family as a whole visited them on occasion, one time where the Cruikshanks invited their extended family in order for the entire clan to enjoy a rural Christmas. Three more story arcs would follow in turn revolving around each of the Patterson children individually spending a summer in their teenage years helping out on the farm. Elizabeth's arc showed her learning to ride horses and partaking in the Cruikshank's hobby of going to auctions, whereupon she acquired her pet rabbit. Michael's arc was his reluctance to go be with the Cruikshanks due to his separation from his then-girlfriend Martha, but eventually coming to appreciate the value of a hard day's work and the uniqueness of rural life.

Agnes Dingle

The landlady of Michael and Josef (Weed) Weeder while the two were attending the University of Western Ontario in London. Though often moody and irascible, she gradually revealed a gentle heart that allowed her to warm to her tenants as good friends. Agnes had a stroke in 2004 and retired to live nearer her children. Michael's first novel, Stone Season, was supposed to be a fictional retelling of Agnes' life.

Candace Halloran

Elizabeth's roommate at Nipissing University in North Bay. The two had known each other since their middle school days and reunited during Elizabeth's first year at university, becoming close friends. A former rebel with a troubled home life, Candace studied psychology and planned to become a counsellor to troubled teens. In her biography on the official website, she finds a partner in her boyfriend Rudy. Both even plan to have a child together.

Moira Kinney

Elly's employee at the bookstore. Moira worked for the previous owner, Lily Petrucci, and stayed on when Elly bought the store in 2000. Moira bought the business from Elly in 2006, with John and Elly retaining the mortgage on the property.

Shannon Lake

A slow-speaking girl in April's home economics class and part of her school's special needs programme. Shannon's reasons for being in that programme were not specifically addressed in the strip, but on a detailed section of the official website. Shannon was based on Lynn's former brother-in-law's stepdaughter, Stephanie Haskins.

Ted McCaulay

John's friend and a doctor in the Medical Arts Building where John had his dental practice. He was portrayed as an incorrigible male chauvinist whose only long-term female relationship was with his mother. He dated Connie Poirier for a time after her relationship with Phil Richards ended. In the official FB or FW website, Ted had been known to play the "game" for some time, even before he met Connie. He dumped Connie the first time when he realized she wanted to get married. It also worried him how even Lawrence was getting attached to him, and didn't want to hurt him. When he heard Connie was dating again, he asked her for another chance. He did seem to show a great deal of caring for Lawrence's feelings when he dated Connie and was surprised by his coldness when they dated again, wondering what happened in his mother's last relationship. When things became edgy between his overbearing mother and Connie, Ted gave her an ultimatum. He basically wanted Connie to be sensitive to his mother and thought they could both live at peace with her. Before he knew it Connie had moved to Thunderbay. He attempted to win her back, but it was already too late. Connie had started a relationship with Greg Thomas and left him rejected. It's also hinted that the reason he married Irene, out of the shock and depression from losing Connie. He began to cheat on Irene when he found his new wife very dull and decided to see how much he could get away with. His mother both times was always happy to see Connie or Irene go, constantly criticizing them and their faults, which implies the root of Ted's problems were that he had an overprotective mother who said no woman was good enough for her son. Ted's mother eventually died in 2005, and he inherited the house they shared. Ted then brought it upon himself to stop womanizing and started a healthy relationship with a woman who is a retired school principle. Although both partners seem to enjoy the relationship, they show no interest in marriage. Both feel that they've "been there and done that" and they didn't enjoy the experience.

Becky McGuire

April's on-again, off-again friend since childhood. She was a founding member of "4-Evah", as its keyboard player and lead singer, later leaving the band when she was offered a chance at a singing contract. Becky's character arc developed in that she grew up to be boy-crazy in high school, which led to problems of her being jerked around by older boys. Becky also had problems with shallowness that caused rifts with April, particularly April's offer for Shannon to help out with 4Evah, then later her shock to see a popular boy develop an interest in Shannon instead of Becky, whereupon she remarked "how could a hunk like that go for a special needs girl?" Under her stage name of Rebecca (sometimes Rebeccah), she developed moderate fame as a singer.

Gordon Mayes

Gordon was Michael's childhood friend and was a year older than Michael and Lawrence, but attended the same classes as his friends either due to grade retention or being enrolled in elementary school a year late. The son of alcoholic and sometimes abusive parents, he made his own fortune through buying an auto-repair garage, eventually parlaying that into several successful businesses (most notably car dealership Mayes Motors), with the help of John Patterson as a silent partner. His wife and high school sweetheart Tracey helps him run the gas station, but spends much of her effort being a housewife and mother. They have two children, Paul and Rosemary, for whom Elizabeth and April were frequent babysitters. Prior to getting married, Gordon confronted his parents, saying he wanted them out of his life and their bad influence would be poisonous for his marriage. When his parents learned that Gordon's marriage had issue, they have worked to seek sobriety treatments and counseling to cure them of alcoholism in the hopes that they can become good grandparents to Gordon's children. Gordon has been the second most cited character to raise controversy (the first being Lawrence for his homosexuality), as author Lynn Johnston has said she dealt with numerous complaints stating that most children from broken homes usually grow up to be lowlives, and that Gordon's portrayal as an abused boy who grew up to become a successful business owner as well as a dedicated husband and father is unrealistic and too much of a "happy ending". Johnston has defended her portrayal of Gordon on the basis that she believes with hard work and a strong moral code it is possible for those who had adverse pasts to rise above it.

Tracey Mayes {née Wells}

Tracey was first introduced when Gordon and Michael were in high school, being shown as a friend of both since childhood. Originally Tracey had been Michael's date to a semi-formal dance, but Michael had been mortified by a bad case of acne. Not wanting to abandon Tracey and seeing how Gordon was struggling with datelessness, Michael set Gordon up with Tracey. The relationship of Tracey and Gordon was one of the more unique couples in FBoFW in that it started out slow, with both Gordon and Tracey worried that romance would sour a good friendship. However, in time the "spark" flared up, and it led to a rocksteady marriage. Tracey is both a good business partner of Gordon's as well as a devoted wife and mother to two children.

Connie Thomas {née Poirier}

Mother of Lawrence, and Elly's closest friend since their days at the University of Toronto. According to Lynn Johnston's retrospective A Look Inside..., Connie was intended to be both a feminist shrew and a villainous counterpart to Elly Patterson, and was named for an incompetent art teacher Lynn had had in high school, but the character mellowed within a few weeks to a struggling single mother, and gradually evolved into Elly's closest friend. Connie was previously married to Peter Landry, who was for many years assumed to be Lawrence's father, but in a retcon storyline in the summer of 1998, Connie revealed that she had met Brazilian doctor Pablo da Silva after university while they were both working in Ecuador as part of a travelling medical team; Connie had become pregnant and assumed that Pablo would return to Canada with her but, when he did not, she decided to raise their son alone. Connie also had relationships with Elly's brother Phil and John's friend Ted, then married Greg Thomas, becoming stepmother to his daughters Gayle and Molly. Connie was initially reluctant to accept Lawrence's coming out when he revealed his homosexuality to her as a teenager.

Lawrence Poirier

Michael's best friend since childhood and still is. In 1993, it was revealed that Lawrence is gay. He hired Elizabeth to work for his landscaping business, Lakeshore Landscaping, for two summers. His partner was Nicholas Browne.

Olivia "Lovey" Saltzman

Michael and Deanna's landlady in Willmar. Lovey had a warm friendship with Michael and Deanna from the start of their tenancy, often helping out the couple by preparing meals and babysitting. Olivia was also the one who smoothed over the problems with Michael and his mother-in-law, Mira Sobinski by revealing that to Mira that she had had problems with her own children, who decided to emigrate to the United States to eke out their own lives. A common bond between Mira and Lovey was that both were born in Poland, and that Lovey had emigrated to Canada as a refugee in order to escape Soviet oppression of her native country. She arranged for them to move into her building's larger apartment at a discounted rate to accommodate their growing family. She reveals that her parents named her in honor of the actress Olivia de Havilland.

Josef Myron "Weed" Weeder

A professional photographer who was Michael's university friend, roommate and later journalistic partner. Weed had a strained relationship with his wealthy family, especially his father who initially wanted him to abandon photography and join the family business. His father finally reconsidered Weed's photography business and was impressed enough to heavily invest into it.