I always wondered if Iola lived with Mama and her family much of the time and Mama ended up raising her.... Iola's mother was always sickly, and apparently this dated all the way back to Iola's childhood according to the episode Sins of a Mother, where even as a kid Iola talks about her mother being sick... It makes me think that her mother was unable to care for her properly so maybe Thelma took over and that's how they became so close... I was thinking maybe Mama taught Iola how to knit, crochet, make crafts and basically make her into the daughter she always wanted... Eunice and Ellen never seemed interested in anything like that. And I can't picture Iola's mother teaching her those things

I'm not sure that she lived with Mama. But I am guessing she was just over there a lot, so Mama probably was a big influence on her. But Iola was too much of a "mama's girl"(her own mom) to ever be away from her for too long.

I think both of you hit on the right answer. Iola was there so much that she basically became an extra Harper child ... and of course developed feelings for Vint along the way. :)
I don't know why I get the feeling that neither Ellen nor Eunice would have liked Iola! Not that those characters ever had enough screen time together to know that for sure.

I think both of you hit on the right answer. Iola was there so much that she basically became an extra Harper child ... and of course developed feelings for Vint along the way. :)
I don't know why I get the feeling that neither Ellen nor Eunice would have liked Iola! Not that those characters ever had enough screen time together to know that for sure.

I guess I just feel like Iola might have lived on and off with the Harpers... Like maybe she would go and spend a month or so at a time...

Eunice wasn't too nice to Iola in the flashback episode Sins of a Mother.... Eunice told Iola to "butt out of the conversation", that was their only dialogue I think... So it's reasonable to assume things weren't great between them.... Ellen would have probably put on a fake smile and tolerated Iola, then been like, "Mama how much longer is she gonna be here!?" when Iola's not listening lol

To me in the NBC episodes, Fran and Ellen sorta exibit Iola traits as far as interaction with Mama goes.


When Mama said, in an early episode, she had "4 screaming kids" underfoot, I like to think MAYBE she was talking about Iola as the 4th kid....even though Iola hadn't been created yet.... she was likely talking about Phillip, b/c I heard originally they were planning on bringing Phillip's character back