Not much is known about the little orphan boy, Stevie, but he seems to be one of a select group of children from the county home who had been periodically invited to spend some quality time with the Walton family. His last name was never revealed, nor was his age, but he appeared to be 8-10 years old. He was recommended for the visit by another orphan who had spent a summer with the Waltons, a now grown Hobie Shanks, who was introduced in this season's episode 8. Hobie hopes that spending a week with the Waltons will give little Stevie a taste of "normal" family life, but Stevie keeps his distance, the result of being shuffled around by prospective adoptive parents who, for whatever reason, never seemed to want to keep him. When Stevie was left at the orphanage, there was a locket in his shirt pocket that contained a lock of blonde hair, and Stevie believes that it must have belonged to his mother. Character Ann Norton says that Stevie reminds her of (real life) child actor Jackie Cooper, who was very popular in 1930's films and would have been about Stevie's age at the time.