Pound, Louise (1872-1958). American folklorist and university professor. Pound and Cather met when both were students at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, where Cather also knew Louise’s brother Roscoe and sister Olivia. Cather was deeply infatuated with Louise, who was both an outstanding student and an accomplished multi-sport athlete. Pound visited Cather in Red Cloud, NE, several times, but she apparently did not reciprocate Cather’s intense affection, and Cather’s lampoon of Roscoe Pound in “Pastels in Prose” (1894) caused a rift between the two women. Pound earned a BA from Nebraska in 1892, an MA in 1895, and a PhD from the University of Heidelberg in 1900. She was a professor in the English department at the University of Nebraska, where she taught Cather's sister Elsie, until 1945. From 1954-55 she served as the first female president of the Modern Language Association.

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).

Pound, Laura Biddlecombe (1841-1928). Clubwoman; Louise Pound's mother. Born in New York to a family dating to colonial days in America, Laura attended Lombard College in Galesburg, IL. She married Stephen B. Pound in 1869, coming to live with him in Lincoln, NE. They had three children, Roscoe, Louise, and Olivia. She educated her children at home, preparing them for early entrance to the University of Nebraska, and took classes there herself. She was a charter member of the Hayden Art Club and the local chapter of the D.A.R. When Cather satirized Roscoe Pound in a university student publication in 1894, Mrs. Pound was deeply offended and no longer welcomed her in their house.

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.

Gere, Ellen Bladen (1875-1941) (“Ned” or “Neddums”). Cather's friend. Ellen Gere, the second daughter of Charles H. and Mariel C. Gere, was born in Lincoln, NE. She visited Cather in Red Cloud, NE, with her sisters, and Cather included her in her correspondence in the 1890s. Ellen Gere entered the University of Nebraska in Lincoln around 1892, but graduated with the class of 1899. In the 1920s she adopted two children, believing, with her friend Dorothy Canfield, that women who wanted to be mothers did not have to be married.

Gere, Frances C. (1877-1965). Cather's friend. Frances Gere, the youngest child of Charles H. and Mariel C. Gere, was born in Lincoln, NE. She entered the University of Nebraska in 1894 and graduated in 1898. Like her sisters, Mariel and Ellen, she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and lived in Lincoln the remainder of her life.