Iola Boylan

Iola Lucille Boylan is an across the street neighbor and the best friend of Thelma in the syndicated version of "Mama's Family". She was played by actress-director Beverly Archer. Iola replaced Fran who passed away sometime in between the episodes "A Grave Mistake" and "Farewell Frannie". Much like Fran, Iola herself is an old maid and lives with her father and geriatric mother. Iola is roughly the same age as Vint and they went to the same high school, she disapproves of his marriage to Naomi. and always try to sweep him away from her. Iola is known for being able to knit little trinkets out of dryer lint, much to the dismay of the Harpers who at one point tried to sell her creations at their yard sale. Even though Iola joined the series after it's switch from network to syndication, he is mentioned as "Ms. Boylan" in the second season episode, "The Return of Leonard Oates". Iola Lucille Boylan played by actress-director Beverly Archer, is the across the street neighbor and best friend of Thelma Harper in the syndicated version of "Mama's Family". Iola was written into the show as a replacement for Aunt Fran, who dies from asphyxiation due to a toothpick dislodged in her throat. Much like Fran, Iola herself is an old maid and never married. She has a crush on Vinton and disapproves of his marriage to Naomi, and often tries to steal him away as seen in The Love Letter when she reads a love note and assumes it was written by Vinton. Iola live across the street with her aforementioned father and geriatric mother.

Iola is known for being able to make trinkets from dryer lint, much to the dismay of the Harper's who tried to sell her creations at a yard sale. Much like Mama, Iola is somewhat religious and never partakes in drinking, but she was seen eating Aunt Effie's rumballs. Iola also has to see a therapist which will sometimes lead to repressed anger as seen in Soup to Nuts which causes her to let out a blood-curdling scream. Iola is a member of the Church Ladies League. At one point she was nominated to be the new president of the CLL by Alberta Meechum, which pitted her against Mama. Both lost the election and apologized to each other for the way they behaved. Iola is also shown to get along real well with Bubba, and at times he has helped her out in some situations like looking for her mother when she thought she was lost.