Relations
Full Name: Penelope Carolina Wilkinson [Née Lane]
Date of Birth: August 16th, 1934
First Appearance: 2.02 “Sweet Child O’Mine”
Current Occupation: 3rd Chair, Stone Creek City Council.
Volunteer, Wallingford Springs Institution
Previous: Untold
Hometown: Wolf Point.
Current Residence: Currently Residing at Cuttlebone City Hospital
549 Auburn Rd., Stone Creek. [Wilkinson Cottage]
Previous: Travelled the World from 2006 until 2011
549 Auburn Rd., Stone Creek. [Wilkinson Cottage]
Somewhere in Stone Creek.
Lane Household, Wolf Point.
Relations
Parents: Untold
Siblings: Untold
Children: Corey Wilkinson [w/ Grady Wilkinson]
Isabelle Wilkinson Rhodes [w/ Grady Wilkinson]
Significant Other(s): Jeremy Joplin; Dating, 2012
Grady Wilkinson; Married, 1956
Previous: Jeremy Joplin, Affair in 1960’s
Others: Gideon Wilkinson [Son via Adoption]
Mona Wilkinson [Daughter-In-Law]
Ivan Rhodes [Son-In-Law]
Daphne Wilkinson [Daughter-In-Law via Adoption]
Jayne Wilkinson [Granddaughter]
Greta Wilkinson [Granddaughter via Adoption]
Bentley Wilkinson [Grandson via Adoption]
History
Wild and vivacious, Penelope Lane moved to Stone Creek in the early 50’s to get a fresh start away from her crazy family in Wolf’s Point. The manager of a small clothing boutique named Claudia’s Closet she found herself at odds with police officer, Grady Wilkinson when he refused to clear her parking ticket unless she agreed to dinner with him. This started a romance that would last decades. Never one to back down, Penelope and Grady’s relationship felt much hardship, but events like their marriage in 1956 caught the town ablaze. While at a nearby zoo, Penelope found a baby chimpanzee that had been abused by the workers and rescued him, letting their new ‘child’ walk down the isle of their wedding. Eventually they returned the chimpanzee to the zoo once they agreed to fire the worker and take good care of her fond ‘child’. Her many wacky ideas led to the citizens of Stone Creek to embrace Penelope.
They gave birth to a son in late 1958 and named him Cornelius Gregarious Wilkinson who Penelope wanted to nickname him ‘Corny’ but Grady would hold firm and still that they call him Corey for short. She cared for their son tremendously and often brought him around to town events where she would later be offered the 3rd Chair on the City Council. Their marriage seemed impenetrable until a grave sickness took Stone Creek by storm and a pregnant Penelope was due to have her second child while it occurred. Isabelle Corrine Wilkinson was born in 1963 and became infected with the virus while in the hospital for months, Penelope grew closer to the doctor who treated both herself and her baby girl. Even though both women overcame the sickness, her marriage did not and Penelope returned to Wolf’s Point with her two children in tow, leaving Grady in Stone Creek.
She would later come back in 1975 to re-connect with her husband and to integrate her family back into the town, but because her encounters with Dr. Jeremy Joplin overtook Penelope she left town once again. Leaving her son, Corey, behind with his father.
Penelope Wilkinson returned to Stone Creek when her son was involved in an accident that left him in a coma. Although she had stayed away from Grady so that he could move on, they never got divorced. Through their son’s ordeal, Penelope and Grady stood strong and decided to re-new their vows with their young daughter, Isabelle, in-tow. The young family began to fall back in place as they rallied by Corey’s side in hopes that he would awaken from his slumber. Grady went on to become the Chief of Police and while on a call he found a little boy named Gideon alone in a messy apartment. They would later find his mother hooked-on drugs and wanting to rid herself of her son. The couple adopted the young boy and welcomed him into their family.
In 1982, Corey Wilkinson awoken from his coma, now in his mid-twenties he had a hard time adjusting to the years that had gone by and his newly adopted brother. Penelope and Grady stood by their son’s side as he began to remember everything that happened and while he grew closer to Mona Duarte, Penelope grew worried for her son. When they discovered that Mona was on the boat when it crashed, she forbid them form seeing one another and did everything she could to keep them apart. She would later apologize to Mona when the truth finally came out that Mona wasn’t the driver of the boat and allowed the two to marry. Corey and Mona left Stone Creek behind to travel the world.
Once Isabelle betrayed her brother, Gideon, for her boyfriend, her relationship with her mother, Penelope grew strained and the two women constantly with up against one-another. Although Penelope had admitted she would always love Isabelle, she medalled in the woman’s love life as many times as she could and would blame family problems on Isabelle and her behavior. Finally getting her act together, Isabelle Wilkinson graduated High School and left for College and finalizing the last of the natural-born Wilkinson child’s presence in Stone Creek. Although she, along with her brother would visit during the holiday’s. Penelope grew closer to Gideon and couldn’t be any prouder of him once Grady stepped down as Chief of Police and bestowed their adoptive son with the honor.
Penelope was stricken with bad news when it was revealed that Grady Wilkinson had been diagnosed with alzheimer’s disease in 2006. Unable to get over the fact that he might never remember her, Penelope left Stone Creek behind and gave Grady the house that she raised her children in.
Start of the Series...
In 2011, Penelope came back to Stone Creek, only to have a seizure and crash her car into a local bar. This caused chaos for many residents, in which Penelope got a gun pulled on her by Catalina Cortez after the woman’s younger sister, Isobel, was the last victim of the accident. When Penelope found out it was her brain cancer that caused the seizure she didn’t want to live out of guilt. She patched things up with Catalina by bonding over a significant loss and helped the woman avoid jail time for nearly killing Cassie Lakhani and her child.
After much hesitation, Penelope finally agreed to let her daughter-in-law, Daphne Wilkinson operate on her. The initial surgery was a success but the treatment proved tiresome for Penelope as she went through months of chemo and often found herself snapping at her family. Still, she pulled through.
She has still refused to see her husband, Grady and by 2012 she was back in Jeremy Joplin’s orbit, by this time he had become Chief of Staff at the hospital and seemed to have moved on with his life. The two began to see more of one another and when Penelope was sure she wanted to start something with the man, she informed him that she needed to finally make piece with Grady. Jeremy encouraged this, and even drove Penelope to the Wallingford Springs Institution so that she could say her goodbye’s. But this proved to be harder than she thought and Penelope insisted on seeing Grady almost every weekend. Jeremy was troubled with the latest development.
In late 2012, after a fight with Jeremy, Penelope, her grandson Bentley Wilkinson, Daphne Wilkinson and Cassie Lakhani and her son Lucian were all taken hostage by Stavros Lakhani who was later revealed to be Rodney Burnett. Rodney was a very dangerous man who admitted to killing Emily Roscoe and brainwashing his only son, Callum, into doing his bidding. He threatened to kill them all and steal Cassie’s infant son to raise as his own. With the help of Cassie, Penelope and Daphne were able to overpower the man and escape the terrifying ordeal with their lives. She would later reason with Jeremy that she needed to see Grady so that he could remember her children and grandchildren. Jeremy accepted this and they began a relationship.
Penelope’s cancer would later reform and upon hearing this news she did something surprising, she leaned on Jeremy Joplin for support.
Portrayed by: Cloris Leachman [2011-Present]
