P: Paulding to Powell

Paulding, Jan
Sixteen-year-old Jan Paulding, tall and slim, has thick golden-blond braids wound around her head, and huge hazel eyes. She wants to be an artist, but her demanding, hypochondriac mother wants her to be a debutante. Though Jan herself is also rather demanding and selfish, Cherry helps her reclaim her inheritance--a vial of precious ambergris inadvertently left behind when her uncle took ill aboard ship, then died soon afterward--which will provide enough money for her to defy her mother and pay for art school (Cruise Nurse).

Persson, Gustave
On her Visiting Nurse district, Cherry's first patient is Gustave Persson, an elderly Swedish man who can no longer work as an architect/carpenter, building homes. Now he keeps busy by inventing little machines, but often can't afford the proper materials, and the frustration affects his health. Cherry introduces him to the people at the neighborhood settlement house, where he becomes an instructor (Visiting Nurse).

Peter, Toni
Young Toni Peter seems to care only about skiing--but he won't take the training and examinations needed to become certified as a ski instructor, and gives lessons illegally. He does odd jobs for Val Nicholas's father, but goes on mysterious lengthy ski trips every Sunday and takes foolish chances when skiing. Though he is involved with a smuggling gang, he eventually helps the authorities save a kidnapped man and vows to reform (Ski Nurse Mystery).

Peters, Millie
The head nurse on Men's Orthopedic Ward at Hilton Hospital, Millie Peters is both practical and peppery (At Hilton Hospital, "The Pinafore Club").

Pierce, Major
When Cherry's Spencer unit is sent to the Pacific from Panama, Major Pierce of the Army Medical Corps replaces Dr. Wylie as the unit director. An easygoing man with a genial air, the doctor is moved to fury when Japanese planes strafe boatloads of wounded during a battle and organizes a surgical team to go to a forward island to treat the battlefield casualties (Chief Nurse).

Pike, Ronnie
Nine-year-old Ronnie Pike survived a car crash that killed his mother and their chauffeur. Cherry was his private duty nurse at a New York hospital after the accident, and upon his discharge, Ronnie's father asks Cherry to continue as Ronnie's nurse at a vacation home in Bermuda while the boy recuperates ("Bermuda Adventure").

Pillsbee, Lieutenant Colonel
Cherry's commanding officer in the Pacific, Colonel Pillsbee, is "a thin, long-bodied, short-legged man. He had small dark eyes, and a lone thatch of yellow hair stood up on his head. He reminded Cherry irresistably of a stork" (Chief Nurse, p. 3). A stickler for rules and regulations, he thinks Cherry is too young and pretty to handle the responsibility of being chief nurse, and he feels her impetuous announcement of a party for the soldiers on the island is frivolous. But during a bombing attack, he shows his courage and commitment to his troops. The nurses irreverently call him The Pill.

Porterfield, Bob
Bob Porterfield stays at the Wayside Rest Home after an attack of appendicitis. An athletic instructor at the Boy Scout camp and the football and track coach at Hilton High, Bob needs a wife to take care of him now that his mother has died. Felicia Martin is ready and willing, but will she ever have a moment alone with Bob while little Ricky Cartright is following him around? (Rest Home Nurse).

Portman, Dr. Paul
At the Eagle's Peak ski resort in Switzerland, Cherry works for Dr. Paul Portman, "a youngish man, tall, bulky, and placid" (Ski Nurse Mystery, p. 17). A general practitioner specializing in orthopedics, Dr. Portman has a wife and two young children, and he allows Cherry plenty of time off for skiing.

Powell, Ann Evans
See Evans, Ann.

Powell, Jack
Jack Powell marries Ann Evans after a long engagement during World War II. He is a "tall, quiet, brown-haired young man" who "looked very much like Ann herself" (Chief Nurse, p. 201). He and Ann are disappointed when army regulations prevent them from marrying when they are both in the Pacific, but they are finally able to wed in England (Flight Nurse).

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