Mervin Monroe - Maude Flanders

Maude Flanders, voiced by Maggie Roswell and temporarily by Marcia Mitzman Gaven between 1999 and 2000 when Roswell did not work for the show, was the wife of Ned Flanders, and the mother of Rod and Todd. While she was not employed outside the home, Maude was a busy homemaker and a tireless advocate for the children, whose innocence is so often sullied by the "evils" of cartoon violence, liberal education, and the insidious influences of popular culture. Even though she spent much of her free time in prayer and reading the Bible and helping out her husband at the Leftorium, Maude was known to let her hair down for the occasional dinner party at the home of her neighbors, the Simpsons. Homer often made statements insinuating his attraction to Maude, thereby literally coveting his neighbor's wife. Also, in the second season episode "The War of the Simpsons", Homer ogled Maude's cleavage at a dinner party, which resulted in him and Marge going to marriage camp.

In the season eleven episode "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", Maude was killed by a t-shirt cannon at the Springfield Speedway when Homer ducked at the last second to pick up a bobby pin on the ground. She was knocked off the grandstand and her rescue was prevented as Homer had parked in the ambulance zone, impeding their rescue attempt. Her death crushed Ned who, though used to some measure of hardship, assumed that they would always be together. This kill-off was the result of Roswell leaving The Simpsons in spring 1999 after a pay dispute with the Fox Broadcasting Company, which airs the show. Voice actress Marcia Mitzman Gaven was hired to fill in for Roswell's characters, including Maude in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" and the earlier episodes of the eleventh season, although the producers decided to kill the character off to open up new storylines for the show. Roswell returned to The Simpsons in 2002 after reaching a deal with Fox to record her lines from her home in Denver. Since returning, she has voiced Maude in flashbacks and as a ghost.

Maude's ghost appears in the opening sequence for "Treehouse of Horror XIII", and during the credits of "Bart Has Two Mommies" she is seen in heaven with Bob Hope and God, wondering how her boys are doing. Maude appeared through flashbacks in "Dangerous Curves", "Take My Life, Please", and "Postcards from the Wedge". Maude also appears in "Treehouse of Horror XXII" as the devil's wife.