<P> During the series' last few years, Mary Ellen and Ben start their own families; Erin, Jason and John - Boy are married in later television movie sequels . Conversely, the younger children Jim - Bob and Elizabeth, struggle to find and cement true love . </P> <P> World War II deeply affects the family . All four Walton boys enlist in the military . Mary Ellen's physician husband, Curtis "Curt" Willard, is sent to Pearl Harbor and is reported to have perished in the Japanese attack on December 7, 1941 . Years later, Mary Ellen hears of sightings of her "late" husband, investigates and finds him alive (played by another actor), but brooding over his war wounds and living under an assumed name . She divorces him and later remarries . </P> <P> John - Boy's military plane is shot down, while Olivia becomes a volunteer at the VA hospital and is seen less and less; she eventually develops tuberculosis and enters an Arizona sanitarium . Olivia's cousin, Rose Burton, moves into the Walton house to look after the brood . Two years later, John Sr. moves to Arizona to be near Olivia . Grandma appears in only a handful of episodes during the eighth season (she was usually said to be visiting relatives in nearby Buckingham County). </P> <P> Six feature - length movies were made after the series' run; set from 1947 to 1969, they aired between 1982 and 1997 . </P>

Where did the mother go in the waltons
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