Farewell Bend -- Characters in the novel

Farewell Bend mixes fact and fiction telling the colorful story of the people who make their home in a 1950s Eastern Oregon town.

Here are some of the characters in the book:

Jack Kavanagh – the narrator, who at 65 looks back fondly at life in Farewell Bend, the struggles of his family and the advantages of being the son of the local newspaper publisher.

Pete Sanger – Jack’s hunting buddy and all around best friend, most of the time

James Kavanagh – Jack’s father and the publisher of Farewell Bend’s semi-weekly newspaper, The Argus-Observer

Anna Kavanagh – Jack’s mother who struggles to keep her family walking the line

Kevin – Jack’s younger brother who watches carefully to avoid some of the potholes that his brother is stumbling into

Joyce Earns, Kay Caufield and Harriet Takayama – Some female classmates that Jack has managed to befriend

William Osaki – Maybe the best student in Jack’s class, and one of the more clear-eyed

Sandy and Sally – Jack’s love interests who don’t reciprocate

Max Robie, Big Carter and Sonny More – Football linemen who play ahead of Jack and Pete.

Elmo Smith – One of two true-to-life characters in the book, who eventually becomes governor of Oregon.

Helen Guyer – Madam of the Farley Hotel