Mrs Harper was the mother of Muriel Harper, a pupil at Bessie Street School. In May 1972, Mrs Harper attended a PTA meeting at the school, where she was introduced by headmaster Wilfred Perkins to Ken Barlow, who would be teaching Muriel next term. Mrs Harper was familiar enough with the other parents to openly discuss her health problems, namely her leg, which she told a rather confused Ken was a mystery to all the Doctors she had seen. Her leg complaint was well known enough that when Rita Bates entered the room and saw Mrs Harper, she immediately asked how the leg was.