Out of the Dust Characters

Doc Rice is Joyce City’s local doctor. He does his best to treat Billie Jo’s mother, though there is little he can do. Billie Jo and her father also go and see him late in the novel to discuss their ailments.

Aunt Ellis is Billie Jo’s aunt. She offers to raise Franklin if he survives. Aunt Ellis also sends a letter to Billie Jo, offering her a place to stay if she decides she wants out of Joyce City. However, Billie Jo never takes her up on the offer.

Franklin is Billie Jo’s infant brother who dies almost immediately after he is born. Billie Jo names him after President Roosevelt.

Grandma Lucas is an elderly woman Billie Jo and her family know, though they are not actually related. Billie Jo and her father try and fail to attend Grandma Lucas’s funeral because they get caught up in a severe dust storm.

Reverend Bingham performs the service at the funeral the community holds for Billie Jo’s mother and Franklin.

Mr. Hardly owns the grocery store in Joyce City. Billie Jo has to be careful when she interacts with him because she knows he has a reputation for cheating his customers.

Reuben is Livie Killian’s older brother. After the Killians move out west, he sets off on his own to find work.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is the president of the United States during the Dust Bowl. Billie Jo greatly admires him.

Miss Freeland is the teacher at Billie Jo’s school. She is a kind and charitable woman who always does the best she can for her students.

Buddy Williams and his family seek shelter at Billie Jo’s school for a few weeks because his wife is pregnant. While he waits for his wife to give birth, Buddy helps out around the school.

Joe De La Flor is a local farmer who is friendly with Billie Jo’s father.

Mrs. Brown is one of Billie Jo’s neighbors. She invites the community over to watch her cereus plant bloom.

Coach Albright is the basketball coach at Billie Jo’s school.

Mr. Kincannon is a resident of Joyce City. Billie Jo’s father helps him pull his truck out of the mud.

Haydon P. Nye is one of the original settlers of the Oklahoma Panhandle. He dies in January of 1935.

Haydon P. Nye’s wife dies two months after her husband. Billie Jo suspects that she dies from a broken heart.

Mr. Noble is a man who lives in Joyce City. He gets into a rabbit-killing competition with Mr. Romney.

Mr. Romney is a man who lives in Joyce City. He gets into a rabbit-killing competition with Mr. Noble.

Livie Killian is Billie Jo’s friend from school. At the beginning of the novel, she and her family move away from Joyce City in the hopes of finding a better life out west.

Sheriff Robertson is the sheriff responsible for dealing with crime in and around Joyce City.

Ivy Hurford is the leader of the Hazel Hurd Players, a musical group that performs in Joyce City.

Ben Grover is a clarinet player who wins the talent competition in Joyce City.

Pete Guymon delivers produce to Mr. Hardly’s store. He dies of dust pneumonia.

Elzire Dionne is a woman Billie Jo reads about in the paper. She lives in Canada and gives birth to five children at once.

James Kingsbury took the photographs of the Dionne Quintuplets, which Billie Jo sees in the newspaper.

Mr. Tuttle is one of the local farmers in Joyce City

Vera is Arley Wanderdale’s wife.