Groundskeeper Willie

Biography

Willie is the groundskeeper at Springfield Elementary School and is a stereotypical angry Scotsman with a heavy Scottish accent. He worked in the same amount of years as Principal Skinner. He was originally hired at Springfield Elementary as "Swim Teacher Willie." Unfortunately, after Skinner was trapped in the worm-filled pool for three days, he had the pool destroyed, and made Willie a groundskeeper. On weekends and during summer vacations, Willie tends to the golf course at the Springfield Glen Country Club, giving himself the appropriate renaming of "Greenskeeper Willie." He has claimed to originate from several different places in Scotland, and frequently gives contradictory accounts of his past life before arriving in Springfield. Willie once told a story of working at a mine that caved in, saying "No one made it out alive, not even Willie!" Also Willie once told Skinner that he had seen his own father hanged for stealing a pig although both of his parents can be seen alive in Scotland later. It is possible that Willie has a murderous past as we are told he is the spitting image of the Aberdeen Strangler, an affirmation which he doesn't deny, innocently whistling by. However, it is likely he only kills unintentionally: he accidentally killed the boy who became the playground ghost of Springfield Elementary, all because of his sassy mouth.

Biography

Willie is incompetent and is quick to anger for little or no reason. He has shown great animosity towards both Principal Skinner and Bart Simpson, the latter of whom is often more than willing to make Willie the butt of his jokes. Twice, Bart destroyed Willie's shack: the first out of revenge for taking his skateboard; the second accidentally. Superintendent Chalmers once said that he never yelled at Willie like he does at Skinner because he liked him. At one time, Skinner quit and Chalmers replaced him with Willie as both Principal and Groundskeeper, though he never increased his salary, much to the Scotsman's disappointment.

Personality

Willie is recognizable for his thick, angry Scottish accent and his shaggy mane of red hair and scruffy beard. Willie's fiery temper, drinking problem and dysfunctional stability and crazyness in his own life make him unfit to be around, let alone take after children and the only reason that he seems to be able to keep his job is because Skinner and Chalmers pay him relatively nothing for his groundskeeping duties. It is implied that Willie has killed a student at least twice. When a ball was shredded underneath his tractor, he screams in horror that he ran over another child again. He claims to be haunted by the ghost of a deceased student when he confused Bart for him and after Bart left the scene, a young ghost actually did appear with a rake impaled through its chest (insinuating murder or at the very least manslaughter). Willie is homeless and lives in his utility shack on the school grounds which is heavily dilapidated (on one occasion he dreamt that he was in his shack when he was actually passed out drunk in a snowy field). His shack has been destroyed twice (both times because of Bart) when he overflowed it with creamed corn out of revenge for Willie stealing his skateboard and the second time was accidentally demolished by a frozen dodge-ball which was intended at his gym teacher. Despite its shabbiness, Willie is emotionally attached to his shack as he missed it greatly when he quit his job and became a waiter, and also was devastated after the first time Bart destroyed the shack, which partly led to him vowing revenge on Bart later on.

Personality

Willie has a very bizarre way of speaking. His heavy accent makes most of his sentences sound nonsensical and complete gibberish. His writing sentences are also heavily accented to match how he speaks, implying he is also illiterate. Whenever Willie insults someone he goes into a long-drafted retort that is gruffly spoken such as "you cheese-eating, surrender monkeys" to a class of French students and "you nose-combing, hair-wipers" to Skinner and Chalmers. His thick accent also results in even simple terms being difficult to understand, as during Nelson's punishment for stealing various items, Willie tried to tell Nelson to activate a hose, but because of it coming out as "hoose", Nelson mistook it for "moose." It's implied that Willie's speech pattern is a result of brain damage due to a constant concussion by hitting himself on the head with a hammer to get to sleep. Willie is a heavy drinker and is usually quite drunk on the job. In these instances he drives his tractor, swerving drunkenly and ploughing everything in his way, once crashing into the pool by accident. He claims to "get so drunk I can barely see, but it helps me get through another day". Despite this, Willie seems to have a passion for his job such as keeping the lost retainers that he finds from children and turning them into a sculpture. Even after Lisa gave him a better life as a waiter and with a presumably higher pay rise, Willie still missed his old job as a groundskeeper. Indeed, he often seems to pursue similar jobs when School is closed and thus his services aren't actually needed there, as implied by his acting as "Greenskeeper Willie" for the local golf course, being attached to this job to such an extent that he gets angered when he receives competition in the form of Bart to the extent of stealing the latter's pay as revenge.

Family

Mr. MacDougal (father) Mrs. MacDougal (mother) Gravedigger Billy (cousin) Ben (uncle)

Origin

Kirkwall, Orkney

Nationality

Scottish American

looks like

yellow skin, red hair, red beard, red eyebrows, wears a white shirt under blue overalls, muscles, black shoes