Tricia Caldwell

*"It's not the flying that bothers me so much as the sudden stopping as you hit the ground." - Tricia Caldwell*

**Patricia "Tricia" Caldwell** is a long time Ashford Falls resident and the sister of Helen Caldwell, the head nurse at Ashford Falls Community General Hospital. A former stewardess and child actress, she now works as an English and Drama teacher at Ashford Falls High School.

Born in 1957, Tricia is the daughter of William and Lisa Caldwell. Her father was the local English teacher at Ashford Falls High School and a struggling novelist while her mother worked as a nurse at Ashford Falls Community General and as an assistant to Dorothy Pierce, the town veterinarian.

For much of her life, Tricia and her sister, Helen, lived in a remote house on Haverstraw Road where they were each other's best friends until 1968 when during a visit to New York City, her grandmother, Emma Caldwell, took her to audition for a TV series called "Forever Town." Out of almost 500 hopefuls, Tricia won the role of Sadie Frost for three seasons, promoting healthy lifestyles for children through music and dance with the tips from super-hero Super-Guy, played by Dean Reeves.

Tricia also guest starred in and handful of TV shows and starred in a few movies, such as "The Adventures of Carrie Dobbins," "Chloe and the Amazing Flying Magic Car," "Doorknobs and Broomhandles" and "The Mystery of Black Cat Manor." However, as she neared adolescence, acting roles fell rare and instead of pursuing her television career further, she quit and returned home to Ashford Falls, later attending Ashford Falls High School.

In high school, Tricia was mostly made a pariah by classmates who recalled her acting career. Considered a diva, she was alienated by Caitlin Featherstone and Rachel Hedison who controlled the student hierarchy, but she still managed to become friendly with Bobbi Pierce and Helen. She briefly dated Rachel's brother, Blake Hedison, but she eventually started a long on-and-off again relationship with Gabe Jameson which eventually became physical, producing a daughter, Marcia Caldwell. Instead of taking a paternal role, however, Gabe denied fatherhood and claimed Marcia wasn't even his daughter, claiming that Blake was the real father. After a DNA test disproved that, Gabe later claimed that Tricia had been bedding several others who could have been the father, such as Russell Coleman and Daniel Featherstone. After Daniel became involved, he asked Tricia to marry him so her daughter would have a father, but she turned him down.

After high school, Tricia worked briefly at the Ashford Falls Movie House while taking classes at Ashford Falls Christian Normal, but she eventually applied with Maddie Harrington into becoming a stewardess to raise her daughter, often flying out at nearby Lemp Field. Often away from town, she almost re-ignited her relationship with Blake Hedison during his father's coma in 1989. In fact, Blake must have relayed this information to his father during this time because Carter Hedison processed it into the dreams he was having, imagining Blake proposing to Tricia and marrying her, and subsequently Tricia getting murdered by Rachel.

In actuality, Tricia continued working as a stewardess until around 1990 when she decided her long absences from home were not conducive to Marcia and she applied to be a teacher at Ashford Falls High School. Her looks, however, became a boys obsession among the classmates which further estranged Tricia's relationship with her daughter. At the same time, Helen was getting further in her relationship with Dr. Paul Kirkwood, earning the enmity of Rachel Hedison, and both Helen and Tricia were in her house when it exploded due to events sent into motion by Rachel. Although, they both survived, the event started a reconciliation between Tricia and Marcia.

Since 1990, Tricia has been directing and acting with the Ashford Falls Drama Club, sometimes traveling into New York City on auditions.