A Greendale Salute to Marie Birmingham on Mother's Day

People, Past & Present!

In doing research about important persons in the story of Greendale people kept mentioning Marie Birmingham. I found her associated with an impressive list of accomplishments: Vice President of the Greendale Historical Society, member of the Bicentennial Commission, member of the 50th Anniversary Committee and member of the Greendale Gazebo Commission to name a few.

In anticipation of Mother’s Day I wanted to do a story about a Greendale mom told through the eyes of her children. The name that kept coming up was, you guessed it, Marie Birmingham. So on a recent Sunday morning at the I met with three of the five children of Marie and Bob Birmingham and I listened while they talked about their mom.

Jim, a village trustee, started the conversation and explained how he admires his mom because she always sees the good in people and is always positive. He’s never heard her utter a mean word. His family, brothers Robert and Jeff, sisters Shary and Jean (Who knew Jim had sisters?) are his best friends. He said that’s because mom spent so much time with them all, showing them how to do crafts, exploring nature, and just enjoying being together as a family.

One of his fond memories is of the backyard March of Dimes festival she organized for years. They would put on a circus and invite the neighbors to raise money for this charity. Jean was a puppeteer, Jeff was rubber man, Shary was a baton twirler, Jim a weight lifter, and Bobby created Irv. Irv was a Martian puppet that only talked through him. Sounds like great fun. A video of that circus would be priceless.

Shary explained that her mother believes in living ‘now’, in having fun and doing the housework and laundry later. She’s a people person, always reaching out to make personal contact with strangers, like when standing in line at the grocery store. Also, her mom is very religious. Shary remembers that the snow could be waist deep, but the family would still go to church.

She was always doing crafts with them all, whether they were 6 or 16. She always had new ideas, and that is why she became so sought after for community projects. But she always kept her priorities straight. When her children started having children she always came for one week to help out.

Jean said that mom sees beauty in the world around her, and loves nature. She thinks kids should have fun. Kids should play and explore first, and do chores later. She would take them on hikes to find rocks and arrowheads. She loved rocks so much that she was always picking them up and dad would have to bring them home. Most of all she is a kind person and treats everyone that way. Because of her example Jean believes her brothers and sisters are kinder, more positive individuals today.

Family may have been #1 for Marie, but the community of Greendale was a close #2. The best example I can give you for her love of Greendale is in her own words. She was a member of the Greendale Bicentennial Commission and wanted to create a quilt as part of the 1976 celebration. In a 1976 letter soliciting participation in the project she wrote:

To all churches, schools, and organizations of Greendale:

“The spirit of achievement is the spirit of America. In days gone by, the building of a barn, the making of a quilt or the canning of food created this feeling. We invite you this bicentennial year, to recapture this spirit of America. Join us in making a quilt with a “heart beat.” All churches, schools and organizations of Greendale are being asked to design and make one patch. This patch will carry your thought, your message….. All so different, but all united in one common quilt, shouting what Greendale is all about.”                                      Marie Birmingham

On that same commission she conceived the idea of planting a prairie, as it was 200 years earlier, with the old grasses and wild flowers. The prairie sits on 2/3 acres of land owned by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation on the east corner of Loomis Road and Grange Avenue.

On June 2, 1976 children from each grade level at Canterbury School planted the seeds of the prairie. Finally she found and purchased a large bell that was rung on the Bicentennial. That bell stands near the , another project she devoted a lot of energy to. I wondered aloud “where did she get so much energy?” They do remember that she drank a lot of coffee. I suspect it was that she loved what she was doing.

I could go on and on telling you what Marie accomplished, what her kids remember doing growing up as a family, but I think you get the idea. Before she aged out of community service, Marie was a ‘supermom’ before that term became popularized.  She was an exemplary woman who enjoyed the traditional duties of housekeeping and child-rearing. Instead of a full-time job, she served the community.

Jim says the family lovingly refers to her as ‘Saint Marie’. Why not? I could only dig up one story out of them that might suggest otherwise. Marie was afraid of lighting the stove and Bob would do that for her. She wanted a new stove but Bob could not see the need. So she threw out the burner and for six months they went stove-less. My suspicion is that with this family it was a fun story, a running joke, another of Marie’s family adventures that she took them all on, husband Bob included.

All of you reading this story have moms that you love, just as much as this family certainly loves their mom. They’re all special, so tell them so on Mother’s Day. For those of you that know Marie personally, and for all of us who have benefited from her service to the community of Greendale, we say thank you Marie. We wish you a wonderful family filled Mother’s Day.  

History records and explains past events, while folklore preserves what people widely remember.

History and Folklore!

When residents moved into Greendale in 1938, the Government handed out a booklet ‘Helpful Suggestions For Greendale Residents’.

Remember, everyone rented from the Government in the beginning, and the homes came supplied with all the appliances and utilities. Still, reading this booklet is both informative and funny. It is a reminder that in 1938 many things were still done manually. And the primary homemaker was the housewife, not the ‘househusband’. While younger people might find that funny or insulting today, this was only shortly after women got to vote in 1920 and slightly before World War II. WWII would bring changes to this way of thinking as women were instrumental in the workforce during the war effort. But judging by the number of applicants and Greendale quickly reaching full residency, these requirements were not very controversial in 1938.

The authors of this booklet are not identified, but I’m almost positive it had to be written by ‘guys’. The floors in the living room, dining alcove and kitchen were asphalt. In the chapter on ‘Care of your Home – Floors’ it states “c. Mop a small section of the floor at a time, rinsing the mop in a pail of cold clear water frequently”. 

What person, let alone a housewife, needs that level of instruction? Besides, the rooms in these homes were tiny. And even more hilarious is the comment in the chapter on the electric range that “Careful reading of these booklets will repay the housewife with economic and successful operation and added knowledge in the preparation of appetizing and inexpensive dishes.” I don’t believe it. I can read an operating manual but still cannot cook an appetizing meal, although no one has died from my cooking….yet. 

Actually, a lot of the information in the booklet is valuable. Operation of the furnace would seem pretty important, as does insect extermination. What I found most interesting about this booklet is the historical information about the materials used and what was and was not available in 1938. By talking about how to clean the floors and woodwork they’re telling us what materials were used. When the booklet talks about not running radio wires outside the house, and that telephone service lines was extended to each house when constructed that documents what was available at the time. Instructions on hanging clothes outside on a clothes line means there were no electric clothes dryers. Sure Shine wax was $.40 a quart, $1.40 a gallon from J&B Soap Co. 1745 N. Palmer, according to the personal notes in the booklet.

So if you yearn for the good old days remember there were no TVs, no computers, no cell phones, and no video game devices. If you would like to read this booklet, visit the Greendale Historical Society in the basement of the Library. The entrance is off of Parking Street by the . Someone is usually there in the mornings.

But did you know?

The electric and telephone lines in Greendale were installed underground. This was one of the first communities in the country to do so. It eliminated telephone and light poles and made it possible for each home to have an electric range and refrigerator. But that did not eliminate the need for the potbellied ‘monkey stove’. These coal-fueled stoves were needed to heat water for washing clothes, to provide heat when the electricity went out, and to cook on in emergencies. I saw a comment that “many a meal of beans and wieners” were cooked on the ‘monkey stove’. Seventy-five years later that still sounds like the perfect meal to me!

Greendale Trivia Question and Answer:

Week#65 Question – The Village was incorporated on November 1^st, 1938 and the first Village Board Meeting was on December 1^st, 1938. What was the 1^st ordinance passed by the Village Board?

** Week #65 contributors Sally Chadwick, Kathleen Hart, Greendale Historical Society, Jim Birmingham, Shary Whalen, Jean Coghlan.