A Walk To Remember Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Hegbert Sullivan
Reverend
Hegbert
Full name: Reverend Hegbert Sullivan
Alias: Reverend
Gender: Male
Occupation: Minister
Member of: Bapist Charch
Relatives: Jamie Sullivan (daughter)

Landon Carter (son-in-law)

Significant Others: Jamie's dead Mother
Portrayed by: Peter Coyote

"If I've kept you too close, it's because I want to keep you longer."

- Hegbert Sullivan to Jamie Sullivan



Hegbert Sullivan is Jamie's father. He is the Beaufort church minister.His wife died shortly after giving birth to Jamie. He is very old with "translucent skin"; he is often crabby but his daughter describes him as having "a good sense of humor." He wrote the local play, The Christmas Angel but he maintains a strong dislike for Mr. Carter due to his father's choices.

Biography[]

Hegbert Sullivan worked for Landon's grand father at a young age. Grand father Carter was a bootlegger and banker, who charged such exorbitant interest rates during the Great Depression that most of his customers lost their homes and businesses to him when they became unable to make their payments. Reverend Sullivan, who once worked for Grandfather Carter, quit his job and joined the ministry.

Landon's description of Reverend Sullivan at the beginning of the novel paints a different picture than the man known throughout the story. In Chapter 1, Reverend Sullivan sounds like a stereotypical Southern Baptist preacher, railing against fornicators and preaching about the wrath of God. Readers can easily envision his fist smashing down on his pulpit during fiery sermons. Yet readers observe that Hegbert and Jamie's interactions are tender and kind. Landon, in fact, learns a great deal about love from watching Hegbert with his daughter.

Jl82

Hegbert Sullivan

mie that Hegbert has a great sense of humor, and from Landon that he cries at his desk over Jamie's illness. This man is first and foremost a father, and second a man who has experienced great loss in his life, ranging from a number of miscarriages to the death of his wife to the impending death of his daughter. Throughout all his loss, Hegbert learns to grieve, continues to love, and mentors to his congregation — not perfectly, of course, but with dignity and faith. Hegbert is far different from Worth Carter. Although many might say that Worth is the better man for serving his constituency in Congress and for his money, power, and influence, Worth does not know how to love his son the way Hegbert loves his daughter. It is Hegbert and Jamie's loving relationship, then, that serves as a model for Worth and Landon as they attempt to repair theirs. HW was the best dad to Jamie and now she is dead.

Film Portrayal

In the movie, A Walk To Remember, Peter Coyote played the role of Hegbert Sullivan.

Advertisement