Chuck Ryan was close friends with Bob Hughes. Chuck moved to Centerville, IL and became romantically involved with two sisters, Jennifer and Kim Sullivan. Jennifer was introduced to ATWT fans in 1971, Kim in 1972. Chuck ended up marrying Jennifer and they had two children, Barbara and Rick.
Chuck became terminally ill and Bob Hughes promised to look after his family after he died. Rick Ryan was an intern at Memorial and he took his father's death very hard. Rick didn't like it when Bob and Jennifer got romantically involved. Barbara tried to capture the attention of Bob's son, Tom Hughes, but he was too busy with his law studies at the time.
When Bob and Jennifer married, Nancy was opposed to the union. Rick caused problems for Bob wherever he could, and Nancy felt that marriage to Jennifer would only cause more trouble for Bob. Rick refused to attend his mother's wedding.
Jennifer's widowed sister, Kim Sullivan Reynolds, caught John Dixon's eye, and the two of them dated. Kim's first husband was Jason Reynolds. Jason's sister was Valerie Conway. Kim liked Bob Hughes too and felt that if things didn't work out between Jennifer and Bob, that maybe she'd be able to hook Bob for herself.
Bob went off to a medical convention in Palm Beach, Florida and lo and behold - who was there but the lovely Kim Reynolds. Kim was a lounge singer out on a gig. They shared a night of passion. When Bob returned to Oakdale he found out that Jennifer was pregnant! Kim also got pregnant by Bob! Bob and Jennifer stayed together and Kim married John Dixon to give her baby a name.
Kim lost her baby but Jennifer didn't. Jennifer gave birth to Frances (known as Frannie) who was named after Kim and Jennifer's mother. Jennifer went to work building a nursing career.
Kim and John never consummated their marriage and John couldn't stand it any longer. He forced himself on Kim. Kim told Bob about it, but he asked her not to tell Jennifer as they found out Jennifer was dying of a rare disease of the central nervous system. Rick left Oakdale, which made things easier for Bob and Jennifer. Jennifer's disease went into remission, but she died soon thereafter in a car accident.
Kim fell in love with Dan Stewart. He helped her through difficult times with John, who was basically blackmailing her into staying married to him. After more ups and downs Kim decided it was time to divorce John. She found out she was pregnant with John's child though, but refused to stay married to him. John tried to drown his sorrows in drink.
Dan had turned to Valerie Conway (Kim's ex-sister-in-law) while Kim was trying to work things out with John. Valerie and Susan (Dan's first wife) couldn't keep the two of them apart and they finally reunited. In 1976 Kim gave birth to Andrew, her and John's son. Kim and Dan married in 1977.
In 1978, when Kim was placing flowers in Jennifer's grave, a young woman named Melinda Gray approached her and told her that she was Jennifer's daughter. She was 18 and was given up for adoption. Rev. Booth verified that Jennifer had indeed given birth to a baby girl that she gave up for adoption. He said that Jennifer never forgave herself for it and no one knew about the baby. Melinda had a locket with Jennifer's picture in it and Melinda told Kim that her adopted father gave her the locket, saying the photo was of her mother. Melinda was 18 and looking to marry into a rich family. Melinda ended up breaking up the Beau Spencer/Annie Stewart marriage when she had a fling with Beau and got pregnant. Beau married Melinda, who miscarried, but the marriage didn't last long.
Dan learned he had a brain tumor and the news was hard on Kim. She went to Rev. Booth for comfort. He gave her the poem "Look to This Day" as it helped Jennifer during her difficult times. Dan and Kim took one last vacation, but Dan didn't make it through to the end of it before he died. Betsy had only recently learned Dan was her father, and she had a very hard time accepting his death. He died in 1979.
In 1980 Melinda Gray had a brief fling with Brad Hollister (before his marriage to Annie Stewart). Drunk one night, she jumped overboard while out on a boat with Brad. When Brad tried to rescue her she pushed him away, and he fell and got knocked out. When he came to he realized Melinda had drowned. He notified the authorities and they found her body in the lake. Kim had lost her niece after knowing her for only two years.
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Note: Gillian Spencer appears as Jennifer Sullivan in the first two photos on this page. She played Jennifer from 1972 to 1975 and reprised the role as a spirit in 1997
