others in that long , lights-on parade included : mark petrie ( the boy ralphie and danny had been on their way to see the night ralphie disappeared ) and his mother and father ; richie boddin and family ; mabel werts in a car containing mr and mrs william norton ( sitting in the back seat with her cane planted between her swelled legs , she talked with unceas ? ing constancy about other funerals she had attended all the way back to 1930 ) ; lester durham and his wife , harriet ; paul mayberry and his wife , glynis ; pat middler , joe crane , vinnie upshaw , and clyde corliss , all riding in a car driven by milt crossen ( milt had opened the beer cooler before they left , and they had all shared out a solemn six-pack in front of the stove ) ; eva miller in a car which also contained her close friends loretta starcher and rhoda curless , who were both maiden ladies ; parkins gillespie and his deputy , nolly gardener , riding in the jerusalem 's lot police car ( parkins 's ford with a stick-on dashboard bubble ) ; lawrence crockett and his sallow wife ; charles rhodes , the sour bus driver , who went to all funerals on general principles ; the charles griffen family , including wife and two sons , hat and jack , the only off ? spring still living at home .