Paula Trainor

Paula Trainor is the best friend of Amy Barksdale in Brother Grimace's A Path of Roses and Thorns. She is the Associate Dean of Military Sciences at Tennyson University, and a full Colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

(It is never stated exactly what Paula's duties in uniform entail, but it is known that she was the commander of a nuclear missile site, and served at some time during the Reagan Administration (between August 1981 and June 1984) as the officer who 'carried the Football'. She also apparently has enough authority to allow her to intimidate Federal officers, and be immediately appraised of emergency situations throughout the government.)

Paula is an African-American woman of thirty-nine, very attractive and slightly vain about her appearance (she once bragged about having the same clothing size since her time in college), and not at all reluctant to speak her mind. Paula is also a lesbian, but does not let her sexuality act as the primary focus of her life (she saves that position for her quest to get Amy married). She is a native Rhode Islander and presumably wealthy (according to the car she owns - a custom-made BMW roadster), and she has a slight dislike of Southerners (or perhaps just of Daniel St. John).

Paula was to be Amy's Maid of Honor at her wedding to Reese Wyatt, but was called away to the White House on important business and returned for the reception. (Not wanting to take away from Amy's special day, Paula didn't tell her that she had been promoted to Brigadier General and selected to become the Deputy Director of DELPHI.)