Emma Davidson Thornton was a teacher and a Mormon resident of Grantville before and after the Ring of Fire. In 1980, Emma fell in love with Mormon Willard Thornton while both were still in high school. They eloped the night of their high school graduation, believing (quite rightly, in regard to Emma's side) that both sets of parents would be profoundly opposed to their marriage. Emma's Methodist parents viewed Mormonism as a cult. The eloping couple spent on their so-called honeymoon in a strip motel in Charleston and Emma became pregnant. Unfortunately, her baby was still-born barely seven months into the pregnancy.