Vern raised three children alone after the death of his wife, Nancy. For years, Vern and his children (Brian, Tanner, and Cassie) believed only that Nancy had killed herself. Thanks to some detective work by Tanner, they found out that Nancy had been raped by a professor at the university, Gavin Newirth, which had led to her death. Vern's primary role was to be Jack's right-hand man at the Spectator, and he was a huge fan of Jack and Jennifer's relationship. Jennifer, whom he called Jenny-girl, was a particular favorite of his. In the early nineties, he began dating Jo Johnson, Jack's mother, whom he had been secretly infatuated with for a few years. He disappeared from the Salem scene in 1993.