Re. your Oct '97 column on "what was Mrs. Howell’s given name: Sherwood Shwartz indicates in his book on Gilligan’s Island (I forget the exact title) that Mrs. Howell’s given name was Eunice Wentworth. This came up in an episode entitled “Mr and Mrs?”.
Bob Denver, however, indicates on his website (www.bobdenver.com) that her name was Lovey Wentworth Howell. Guess it all depends on which writers you talk to. Personally, I say the producer is the final authority.
P.S. He gives the names of the two writers that did this episode, too, but I forget.
Seems to be that the bottom line is that Shwartz originally gave the character the name Lovey Howell not forseeing that the issue of her given and maiden name would ever come up. When the episode in question was written, the writers added this bit of family history to the Mrs. Howell character and, as stated above, Mr. Shwartz seems to aprove this “Eunice Wentworth” business as an addition to the character information.