Who is Jean's Father from Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and what is their importance?

Jean's father is rarely mentioned in the novel. Her mother describes as having been a gambler when they first met. She also describes him as easy going and never pushy. Unlike Jean's mother, who removes a woman from her prayer list for angrily criticizing providing food for the poor..... her father adds the woman to his own. Jean's father also constructed the nativity scene used in the Christmas play. From these few mentions, we can infer that Jean's father was fairly relgious..... but that's about it.