CHICAGO (AFP).- The real-life inspiration for the "Little Red-Haired Girl," the Peanuts comic strip character who infatuated Charlie Brown, has died at age 87.

Donna Wold, a red-haired young woman who captivated Peanuts creator Charles Schulz and formed the basis for the beloved cartoon character, died earlier this month, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported over the weekend.

Just as the Little Red-Haired Girl was the one who got away for Charlie Brown, so too did Wold from Schulz.

According to The Washington Post, the two dated for around two years, with Schulz even proposing marriage.

But Wold, back then known as Donna Johnson, would ultimately marry someone else -- her husband Allan -- with whom she had four children and served as a foster mother to at least 40 children, many of whom she named after Peanuts characters, the Star Tribune reported.

Wold was only outed as the inspiration for the Little Red-Haired Girl in 1989 in the Schulz biography "Good Grief," the newspaper said.

A long-time Minneapolis area resident, Wold died August 9 of heart failure and complications of diabetes, it said.

"I've had a good life," Wold told the Post last summer. "A very happy life."

According to the Star Tribune, she was an avid camper and traveler -- she has been to the Grand Tetons at least 40 times -- and also loved playing cards.

Wold is survived by her husband, three daughters, seven grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, it said.



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