Cast of Characters

.
Baxter Family

• John Baxter – owner/operator of Baxter’s Rod & Barrel – married Jessica Scott (four children)
  – Julie Baxter – married Steve Nygaard
  – Jerry Baxter – Julie’s twin – owner/operator of Jerry’s Garage
  – Jacob Baxter – (not local)
  – Justine Baxter – (not local)

Clay Family

• Alistair Clay – volunteer fire-fighter – his daughter…
  – Sidney Clay – police officer, Sheriff of Ash Creek.

Cowan Family

• Andrew Cowan – local recluse – married Debbie Maxwell (no children), then Aimee Larson (three children)
  – Keith Cowan
  – Garth Cowan – high school janitor
  – Trish Cowan – long-term girlfriend of John McNally (three young children)

Hill Family

• David Hill – classmate of Sidney Clay and Steve Nygaard – chair of the Ash Creek Town Council for the past decade
• Patty Hill – sister of David, disappeared in high school

Johnson Family – originally from Chicago

• Connie Johnson – married Jeff Larson
• Len Johnson – a lawyer
• Ralph Johnson – a doctor – works in Green Bay, Wisconsin
  – Scott Johnson – friend of Matt, studied law at Harvard
  – Rachel Johnson – night dispatcher for the Ash Creek Police Dept.

Larson Family

• Jeff Larson – owner/operator of Larson Logging – married Connie Johnson.
  – Aimee Larson – waitress at Rowdies before she married Andrew Cowan.

Maxwell Family

• James Maxwell – log truck driver
  – Debbie Maxwell – teacher, then log truck driver – had affair with Steve Nygaard (one of her students) – one child (Matt Nygaard)
  – James Maxwell Jr – log truck driver – his daughter
  --- Lisa Maxwell – girlfriend of Keith Cowan.

McNally Family – from Marquette, Michigan

• John McNally – not local
  – John McNally, Jr – recent police cadet graduate – moved to Ash Creek with mother who was fleeing domestic abuse

Nygaard Family

• Steve Nygaard – pot grower/supplier of medicine – affair with Debbie Maxwell Cowan – then married Julie Baxter (eight children)
  – Matt Nygaard
  – Jennifer Nygaard
  – Scott Nygaard
  – Barbara Nygaard – seeing Garth Cowan
  – Alexander Nygaard
  – Todd Nygaard
  – Lynne Nygaard
  – Jessica Nygaard
  – Deborah Nygaard

Smith Family – from Duluth, Minnesota

• Molly Smith – receptionist for the Ash Creek Police Department
• Missy Smith – pregnant girlfriend of John McNally.

Williams Family – from Madison, Wisconsin

• Jack Williams – married Lenora Greene – died on tour in the Persian Gulf, shortly before their daughter was born.
  – Zenna Williams – works at Baxter’s Rod & Barrel – into photography. Ex-girlfriend of John McNally.

Also mentioned:
Sheriff Bill Newton (d. 1999, age 61)
Detective Alan Winchester – from Minneapolis, Minnesota

♥

Notes

.
This story takes place in a fictional town called Ash Creek that sits between Ontonagon and the Porcupine Mountains in the western part of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Although I haven’t been there, it’s an area that has long held my interest. (And I did venture into “da U.P.” once as a young adult.)

I have made liberal use of the Yooper dialect, doing my best to emulate the accent in my local characters. I have known Yoopers, listened to Yoopers and studied the area for a number of years now. Even so, it’s difficult to write in accent for any length of time and always difficult to write things in a way the reader can “hear” the pronunciations while keeping it relatively easy to read. So, please, Yoopers, forgive me my errors and accept the compliment that I’m a Yooper-wannabe.

All people are 100% fictional and any resemblance to real people is purely coincidence.

♥♥♥