Romana Seberger Wahl (1900–1991). Called Money, Mona, Nana. Betty’s mother; born in St. Cloud, Minnesota; taught school until marriage in 1922.
Patricia Wahl Bitzan (1927–): Called Patt; Patty; Pat. Betty’s sister; seven children.
Donald J. Bitzan (1926–): Called Don. Pat’s husband; watchmaker; eventually established successful jewelry store.
John Arthur Wahl (1930–): Betty’s brother; construction company manager and owner.
Irene Sticka Wahl (1931–): John Wahl’s wife; three children.
Thomas Peter Wahl (1931–): Called Tom; religious name Caedmon. Betty’s brother; Benedictine monk and priest; ordained, 1958.
Bertha Seberger Strobel (1891–1962): Called Birdie; Bertie by JFP. Betty’s maternal aunt.
Albert Strobel (1880–1963): Called Al. Birdie’s husband; successful optometrist.
Albertine Muller Seberger (1865–1957): Called Bertha; called Grandma Seberger. Betty’s maternal grandmother; born in Stillwater, Minnesota; married Peter J. Seberger (1864–1935).
Friends in the Movement (or Otherwise Associated with St. John’s)
Bronislaw Bak (1922–1981): Called Bruno. Painter, printer, stained-glass artist; taught art at St. John’s University; designed stained-glass window of St. John’s Abbey Church.
Hedi Bak (1924–2010): Called Hetty. Bruno Bak’s wife; artist; three children.
Carlos Cotton (1913–2001): Sculptor; taught at St. John’s.
Mary Katherine Finegan Cotton (1916–1992): Carlos Cotton’s wife; sister of Elizabeth Anne Finegan Doyle; Catholic Worker; eight children.
Leonard J. Doyle (1914–1970): Taught English at St. John’s Prep; translator for St. John’s Liturgical Press; his beard, a subject of great interest to Jim.
Elizabeth Anne Finegan Doyle (1918–2011): Called Betty. Leonard Doyle’s wife; sister of Mary Katherine Finegan Cotton; Catholic Worker; nine children.
Donald Humphrey (1912–1958): Called Don, Hump, Humphaus. Artist, sculptor, and chalice maker; Catholic Worker.
Mary Alice Frawley Humphrey (1912–1992): Don Humphrey’s wife; seamstress of baptismal robes; weaver; Catholic Worker; eight children.
Emerson Hynes (1915–1971): Called Em. Professor of sociology at St. John’s; at center of Catholic rural and family-life movement in the area; became Senator Eugene McCarthy’s legislative assistant in Washington.
Arleen McCarty Hynes (1916–2006): Emerson Hynes’s wife; ten children; became Benedictine nun after ten years a widow.
Eugene McCarthy (1916–2005): Called Gene. Taught at St. John’s, 1940–1943; novice for nine months, 1942–1943; married, 1945, and lived in a Catholic agricultural commune in the area for a while; later U.S. representative (1949–1959) and U.S. senator (1959–1971).
Abigail Quigley McCarthy (1915–2001): Eugene McCarthy’s wife; writer and journalist; four children.
Joseph O’Connell (1927–1995): Artist, sculptor, and printmaker; taught at St. John’s in mid-1950s; later, artist in residence at St. John’s and St. Benedict’s.
Joann Wiley O’Connell (1930–): Called Jody. Joe O’Connell’s wife; five children.
Richard Palmquist (1922–2005): Called Dick. Worked for the Chancery of the St. Cloud Diocese; later owned insurance agency.
Mary Pluth Palmquist (1927–): Called Mary Jean. Richard Palmquist’s wife; teacher; six children.
Fredric Petters (1926–): Called Fred. Owned a fabric and fur shop in St. Cloud; later worked at the Liturgical Press at St. John’s.
Rosemary Boyle Petters (1925–): Called Romy, Rome (only by JFP). Fred Petters’s wife; potter; seven children.
Other Friends and Correspondents
George Barnett: Called Barnhart by JFP. Friend; was at Sandstone with him.
Jack Conroy (1898–1990): Proletarian writer, best known for his 1933 novel, The Disinherited. Good friend.
Father Harvey F. X. Egan (1915–2006): Called Mon pere, Detachismus. Ordained in 1941; JFP’s great benefactor, dispenser of frequent loans.
Sister Mariella Gable, OSB (1898–1985): BWP’s college teacher; editor of collections of Catholic fiction; critic. Introduced JFP to BWP.
Father George G. Garrelts (1918–2003): JFP’s classmate at Quincy College Academy; close friend; ordained, 1942. Was a Detacher in early years; later president of the Newman Clubs of America. Left the priesthood in 1970 and got married.
John Haskins (ca. 1918–1977): Called Hask. Classmate at Quincy College Academy; best man at JFP’s wedding; became music critic for the Washington Evening Star and The Kansas City Star.
John Howe (1913–1997): Called Jack. Draftsman for Frank Lloyd Wright; JFP met him at Sandstone Federal Penitentiary.
Richard Keefe (ca. 1917–1980): Called Dick. Close friend; JFP’s classmate at Quincy College Academy; expelled from the seminary for “worldliness”; became dean of St. Louis University and host of a TV show.
Ted LeBerthon (ca. 1893–1960): Journalist and columnist; reported on racial inequality, migrant workers, from 1930s on; associated with The Catholic Worker; JFP’s roommate in St. Paul in 1945.
Robert Lowell (1917–1977): Called Cal. Poet; JFP met him at Yaddo, 1947; took road trip together in 1947.
John Marshall: Called Marsh by JFP. JFP met him at Sandstone Federal Penitentiary; became a physician.
Michael Millgate (1929–): British biographer, editor, critic, teacher; teaching fellow at Ann Arbor, 1956, when Jim met him.
Seán Ó Faoláin (1900–1991): Irish short-story writer; extremely helpful in practical ways and as a friend in Ireland from 1952 on.
Katherine Anne Porter (1890–1980): Short-story writer and novelist; championed JFP’s work.
J. Kerker Quinn (1911–1969): Editor at Accent magazine; accepted JFP’s first short story and a number of subsequent ones.
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963): Called Beast; Champ by JFP. Poet; JFP met him at Yaddo in 1947.
Charles Shattuck (1910–1992): Called Chuck. Married to Suzie; editor at Accent magazine and professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana; Shakespearean scholar; was extremely influential in editing Jim’s work.
Harry Sylvester (1908–1993): Short-story writer and novelist; attended JFP’s wedding; an informal rivalry existed between him and JFP for position of top American Catholic writer; later rejected the Church.
Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966): English writer and novelist; championed JFP’s work.
Harvey C. Webster (1906–1988): Called Clocker by JFP. Professor of English at the University of Louisville; JFP met him at Yaddo; a frequent companion at the Saratoga Springs racetrack.
Gordon Zahn (1918–2007): Sociologist and writer; conscientious objector during the war; critic of the Catholic Church’s position on war; best known for In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter (1964).