My mother, Gladys Muriel Lininger Green was born in 1900 at the turn of a new century. She was to become a very Twentieth Century kind of woman, later becoming a charter member of a ladies'club, appropriately named "The Twentieth Century Club." This club was always to be an important part of her life.
Mother had just one brother, my Uncle Clyde, and they grew up in a very working class way, our grandfather being a mechanic. When the automobile was invented, the Lininger family had one of the first cars in Anderson, and our grandfather opened one of the first car repair businesses. After mother graduated from high school she worked keeping books at the "garage" for her dad.
Mother was always very artistic. She loved to paint and to write. She kept a diary and wrote short stories. She mostly painted lovely flower pictures. From her diaries, it seemed her days were filled with activities along side her mother. After her school days were over, they cooked, they walked to town and shopped, they had lunch or bought chocolates at the chocolate shop. Our mother LOVED her sweets, and passed this love on to all her children. Mother helped with chores at home, and she loved to read. I think she would have loved going on to college, taking art courses, and writing courses. Sadly, there was only enough money to send her brother, Clyde, off to college. And, of course, in those days, college wasn't deemed important for a daughter. They were just supposed to get married.
Mother put off the marriage part until she was 25 years old. I think she must have really loved her life of painting, writing, trips to town with mother, reading, and going to parties and church with her friends. She even owned her own gift shop for several years. And she ALWAYS loved a gift shop. Even in late life when she could barely walk, her step got a lot livlier if she was near a gift shop!
While attending her young adults class at church, Mother met a gentleman who had just moved to Anderson. His name was Mark Edward Green, and he had moved to Anderson, working at a furniture store, and supporting his widowed mother and younger sister. Of course, you guessed it, they fell in love. But to tell the truth, I think mother strung him along for quite awhile. I think she was reluctant to give up her idyllic single life. But love, and Daddy's perserverance won out.
They were married at the OLD ages of: Mother was 25, and Daddy was 30.
Silly people. They went on to have four boys, and then one girl in the next eleven years - and did all this during the Great Depression! They even had to live together with my grandparents for sometime during those depression years. As I think back on my childhood, I was a pretty happy child, but I know that our parents really struggled. We never owned a home - always rented. There were a few years during World War II, that we had no car. My dad always rode the bus to work during those years. In fact, riding the city bus was always a big part of our lives, because our mother never drove a car. So, when Daddy was at work, we either walked or rode the bus. I can still tell you the times and routes of the buses! And, if you walked to town,I can tell you where you could buy an ice cream cone on the way home.
Since I was the fifth child, and the only girl, Mother and I became great pals, just as she and her mother had been. I know that my parents were very tired with the struggle of caring for a big family with little funds. Our mother cooked three big meals a day, when she would really have preferred fixing fancy party desserts. She washed laundry for five males (my Dad wore a white dress shirt every day of his life) in a manual washing machine. The laundry had to be hung outdoors in warm weather, and indoors in the winter. And ALL those dress shirts had to be ironed. A loaded laundry basket was a constant presence in our house.
Mother always kept up her membership in the before mentioned Twentieth Century Club, and all those women had finer homes and more money than we did. Mother and Daddy belonged to a bridge playing club that met one Saturday night each month. And all those couples had fine homes and more money. I remember well the epic house cleaning our house underwent when it was their turn to host the bridge club. Mother also belonged to church circle and a home economics club called "The Golden Rule Club." Those Golden Rule ladies were really life long friends. I remember mother taking part in Mothers' Club at school. I think she was always treasurer. I remember feeling so proud when she visited school, because I thought she was prettier than the other mothers.
Our dad was not at home much. I first remember his being a furniture salesman with the Sears Roebuck Company. Needless to say, all our furniture came from Sears. Then, during the war, he was able to get a job with General Motors at the Guide Lamp Division, where he worked until retirement. He also always directed choirs, at church, a community choir, and for the American Legion mens' chorus. He was also on the city council for some time. So his evenings were often spent a way from home. I think that his children were somewhat a trial for him. He was older when we all were born, and he was always burdened with earning a living for such a big brood. He was a good man, a good Christian, but I think he really battled depression. He was so often serious, and did not seem to enjoy his life at home very much. Later in life, he made the comment that he only learned how a father should enjoy his children by watching his son-in-law, Don.
Even though Mother was very tired from all the demands of her household, I think she enjoyed her children. The boys always made her laugh. However, she would have probably made a very happy single woman artist, had she chosen that life. I know that she grieved for our father when he died in his sixties, but I think she managed to enjoy the twenty years or so of widowhood, experiencing the first freedom to do as she pleased in all her life.
But both parents loved us, for sure. And they passed down to their children, and then to grandchildren many of their passions: art from Mother, music from Daddy, a love of writing from both, a taste for sweets, an enjoyment of family celebrations, and the importance of family and education.
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