Gere, Mariel Clapham (1874-1960). Cather’s university friend; a teacher. Mariel Gere, eldest daughter of Charles H. and Mariel C. Gere, born in Lincoln, NE, entered the University of Nebraska's prep school in the same year Cather did. She and her sisters visited Cather several times in Red Cloud, NE. Both were members of the Union Literary Society until Gere joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority in 1892. Gere graduated in the science course and taught chemistry at Lincoln High until 1941. She also served on the Lincoln City Library board for many years. Cather and Gere remained friends and correspondents; Gere defended Cather from accusations that she had been arrogant and friendless during her university years.

Tyndale, Julius Hilgard (1843-1929). Lincoln physician; Cather’s friend. Julius H. Tyndale was reared in Illinois, son of Sharon Tyndale and Mary Hilgard Tyndale. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, and afterwards became a physician in New York City, specializing in diseases of the ear, nose, and throat, a practice which brought him into contact with actors and singers. He moved to Lincoln, NE, around 1893 to join his sister, Emma Tyndale Westermann, and her family. The Westermanns owned the Lincoln Evening News at the time, for which Tyndale wrote theater reviews. He was Cather’s friend and mentor as she began reviewing for the Nebraska State Journal and closely followed her career. Although they remained friends and correspondents until his death, there is only one brief letter from Cather known to be extant.

Cather, Roscoe (1877-1945) (“Ross”). Cather’s brother. Roscoe was born in Virginia, the second child and oldest son of Charles and Virginia Cather. After graduating from Red Cloud (NE) High School in 1895, he taught country school for two years, attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for one year (1897-1898), taught high school in Carlton, NE, and Oxford, NE, and finally became superintendent of schools in Fullerton, NE. There he met fellow teacher Meta Schaper, whom he married in 1907. They relocated to Lander, WY, in 1909, where he opened an abstract office and where their three children, Virginia and twins Margaret and Elizabeth, were born. In 1921, they moved to Casper, WY, where Roscoe became president of the Wyoming Trust Company, and in 1937 to Colusa, CA, where Roscoe and his brother Douglass had acquired a controlling interest in the First Savings Bank of Colusa. Roscoe served as president of the bank until his death. Willa visited Roscoe and his family in Wyoming several times and shared important travel experiences with them, including a 1926 trip to New Mexico with Roscoe, Meta, and their children and a 1941 San Francisco vacation with Roscoe and Meta. She also relied on him to handle family-related business as well as personal financial matters, and he was one of her chief correspondents throughout her life. Roscoe served as a prototype for one of the twin brothers in the Templeton family in “Old Mrs. Harris” (1932).

Westermann, Max (1865-1924). Accountant and Assistant Finance Secretary. Born in Illinois to Louis and Emma Tyndale Westermann, Max Westermann and his twin brother Fritz came to Lincoln, NE, in 1885. He began work as a clerk in the finance department with the University of Nebraska in 1889 and married Louise Schoular in 1902. He worked at the university until his death of a heart attack. Cather knew the Westermann family, whom she portrayed as the Ehrlich family in One of Ours (1922), when she was a student at the university; she occasionally stayed with Max and Louise Westermann when she visited Lincoln and autographed a photograph of herself to them.