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).

Whipple, Allen Oldfather (1881-1963). American surgeon. Dr. Whipple was the surgeon-in-chief at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital from 1921 to 1946. He is famous for inventing the pancreatoduodenectomy (the Whipple procedure), an innovative surgical procedure for treating patients with pancreatic cancer.

Dow, Alex (1862-1942). Scottish-American electrical engineer. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Alex Dow immigrated to New York City in 1882. Having received little formal education, he began experimental engineering work while working the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s telegraph company. He joined the Brush Electric Light Company in Baltimore, MD, in 1886, later transferring to their Chicago, IL, division, where he designed the arc lighting system for the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. From Chicago he moved to Detroit, MI, where as president of the Detroit Edison Company he built it into one of the largest corporations in America. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers awarded him the Edison Medal in 1936. Dow married Vivienne Kinnersley of Baltimore, MD, in 1889, and they had four children, Dorothy, Margaret, James, and George. Cather met Alex Dow in 1924, when both received honorary degrees from the University of Michigan; they struck up a friendship and evidently corresponded with one another, although their correspondence has not been located. He died in Ann Arbor, MI.

Dow, Vivienne Grant Kinnersley (1863-1945). Wife of Alex Dow. Born in Baltimore, MD, Vivienne Kinnersley married Alex Dow in 1889 and moved to Detroit, MI, where he was president of the Detroit Edison Company. They had four children, Dorothy, Margaret, James, and George. Vivienne Dow helped to establish the Vivienne Farm House, a rest home for Detroit Edison women employees. The University of Michigan awarded her an honorary degree 1934 in recognition of her charitable work. She died in Ann Arbor, MI.

Churchill, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer (1874-1965). British politician and writer. Son of Lord Henry Randolph Spencer Churchill and Jeannette Jerome Churchill, daughter of a New York financier, Churchill had a long career in British diplomacy and politics, culminating in his service as Prime Minister during World War II. Cather was enthusiastic about Churchill's leadership during the war, following his speeches, reading biographies of him, and attributing his shrewdness to his American mother.