De acordo com um artigo da Wikipedia sobre a garotinha ruiva , na verdade era uma paixão adulta de Schulz :
A former coworker, Donna Mae Johnson (born circa 1929 in Minneapolis, Minnesota), was Schulz's inspiration for the character. A 1947 high school graduate, Johnson was working in the accounting department of the Art Instruction, Inc., a correspondence school where Schulz worked. Johnson and Schulz eventually became romantically involved and dated for three years, but in 1950 when Schulz proposed to her, she turned him down, saying she was already engaged to fireman Allan Wold. She married Allan on October 21, 1950. Schulz was devastated, but he and Johnson-Wold remained friends for the rest of his life.