The Simpsons: 10 Classic Characters You’ll Never See Again

With Bart and Lisa being school kids, it was important for the Simpsons writers to get a handle on members of the town’s school staff. More than just props, many of these characters became beloved in their own right. Few are more memorable than Bart’s fourth grade tutor Edna Krabappel.

Rather than the rosy and soft teachers of other sitcoms and TV shows, Edna was given dry wit, a smoking habit and a loud sarcastic laugh. Her more character-centric episodes were focused on her desires to find Mr Right, which almost always inevitably panned out for the worse.

Making her first appearance in the second ever episode of the show, Mrs Kabappel was portrayed for 23 years by Marcia Wallace. However, in 2013, Wallace passed from complications due to breast cancer.

At the very least, later appearances of Edna saw opposites attract and her pursuit of love finally found a happy conclusion. Despite her very sarcastic and cynical nature, she wound up marrying the always chipper Ned Flanders. This means that, even after already losing Maude, Ned was the character that was chosen to carefully mourn Edna when the show acknowledged Wallace’s death.

Out of respect for her work, Edna’s character was retired from The Simpsons with dignity.