Penny Hughes is the daughter of Nancy and Chris Hughes. Her best friend was Ellen Lowell. Her brothers are Don Hughes and Bob Hughes. She had a sister named Susan who died.
Penny Hughes is the daughter of Nancy and Chris Hughes. Her best friend was Ellen Lowell. Her brothers are Don Hughes and Bob Hughes. She had a sister named Susan who died.
Penny was close to her aunt, Edith (also known as Edie) Hughes. Nancy didn't like Edith. Penny was very upset when she found out her aunt was having an affair with Jim Lowell, who was her best friend's father. This severed their friendship, and Nancy was pleased.
Penny's boyfriend was Jeff Baker. (Penny and Jeff are considered soap opera's first super couple and helped make ATWT the number one show during this time period.) Jeff was an only child. His parents were Dick and Grace Baker. Jeff was spoiled. Nancy didn't like Jeff and Penny argued with her mother about him. One night, while still in high school, Penny and Jeff eloped across the state lines. Penny had second thoughts thoughts after marrying and returned home. The marriage was annulled.
Rejected by Penny, Jeff fell apart. Jeff got into a fight with Al James, who was saying bad things about Penny. Al ended up getting killed and Chris Hughes defended Jeff. Jeff was cleared of the murder. Penny began dating Tom Pope, who was an attorney. They became engaged. Nancy and Chris were pleased.
One evening Jeff professed his love to Penny. He wanted nothing more than to win her back. Tom overheard the proposal and released Penny to be with Jeff. Penny and Jeff reunited and they were married in a beautiful church ceremony with family and friends present. They married on Christmas eve in 1958. Viewers around the USA even dressed in their Sunday best to watch the ceremony on television!
Jeff joined the family business, but what he really wanted to do was play the piano. Jeff wasn't fitting in well at the family business. Jeff's mother, Grace, tried to get Jeff to quit, and even enlisted Penny's help. Penny refused to get involved. Work problems led Jeff to begin drinking. Jeff ended up leaving Oakdale and went to work as a barfly under the name Jack Bailey. Penny discovered she was pregnant after Jeff left, but she lost the baby.
Penny wasn't sure what her future held. She didn't know where Jeff was. She went to work as a writer for a local newspaper. Tom Pope and Greg Williams, a newspaper editor, wooed Penny. Jeff was doing quite well in his new profession and stopped drinking. He returned home before Penny got a divorce. He asked Penny for another chance. Seeing how he had changed, she took him back.
Things were going well for Penny and Jeff. Jeff recorded a new love song titled "Penny." Although Penny wasn't able to get pregnant, they made plans to adopt. On their way to a family celebration, tragedy happened. Penny and Jeff got into a car accident. Jeff was killed instantly. Penny ended up in a coma. When she woke up, she had amnesia!
Penny's memory eventually came back and Penny met someone new. His name was Neil Wade. Neil had trouble deciding what he wanted to do with his future, but he was a doctor. Judith Wade, Neil's mother, had a one night stand with Doug Cassen and Neil was conceived. When Judith found out she was pregnant, she married Frank Wade. She never saw the father of her baby again, not knowing what happened to him, until she came to Oakdale and saw Doug again.
Judith asked Doug to take Neil under his wing and give him some direction in his life. He did but didn't reveal to him that he was his son. Bob was upset that Neil was chosen by Doug over him for a promotion at Memorial. Doug revealed to Ellen and David Stewart that Neil was his son.
Penny married Neil, although she wasn't sure that she loved him. Neil was a very unsure doctor and Judge Lowell almost died because of Neil's negligence. Neil blamed Penny as he felt that she pushed him towards practicing medicine. Neil left Penny and Doug loaned him money to open his open business, the Wade Book Shop.
Doug revealed to Neil that he was his father. Neil realized it was really Doug that pushed him towards practicing medicine and he reconciled with Penny. Neil's bookstore became quite successful and Neil enjoyed his job. He was well-liked and definitely found his niche. He repaid Doug and eventually accepted him as his father. Penny urged Neil to open another store in New York City. She loved New York as she had spent a lot of time there with Jeff, when he was recording his songs. Just as things were going well for Penny and Neil, tragedy struck again. Neil died of an embolism.
Penny took over the bookstore and became friends with Roy McGuire. Roy was once married to Sandy McGuire, who was now married to Penny's brother, Bob. Roy and Sandy had a son, Jimmy. Having had no children of her own, Penny wanted to be a mom to Jimmy. She convinced Roy to marry her and they got custody of Jimmy. This caused problems between Penny and Bob. Roy and Penny never consummated their marriage and Penny realized they had no future together. She got an annullment and moved to New York City.
Penny had met Liz Talbot in England and invited her to come to Oakdale. When Penny returned to Oakdale she didn't want to be in the middle of the situation between Liz, Dan, Susan, and Paul. She decided to move to England. There she married a race care driver named Anton Cunningham.
In 1985, Penny flew in from England to attend Bob and Kim's wedding at Eastertime. In 1986 Penny visited Oakdale again to celebrate her parent's 50th wedding anniversary. Only a few months later her father, Chris Hughes, died.
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