Millie Shanks

Millie Shanks is the wife of Armitage Shanks and the mother of Katrina, whose long courtship with Eugene keeps her parents closely involved in her life. A devoted family woman, Millie shares her husband's regard for tradition and proper ceremony - the Shankses set great store by family heirlooms - and when Katrina's choices fall short of her parents' expectations, Millie can be openly displeased. She is at her most formidable around weddings: given the chance to help plan one, she takes charge of everything from the flowers to the dress, sweeping aside other arrangements with a confident certainty that mother knows best. Yet beneath the managing exterior lies genuine love for her daughter, and she is capable, in the end, of recognizing when a special day belongs to Katrina rather than to herself.