The story of Mrs. Greer

Our Annie director, Taffy Geisel, encouraged us to find out WHO our characters are.  Frances Perkins is a little easier because she was a real person.  From written histories and photos of her, you can get a feel for who she was.  Mrs. Greer, however, is perhaps more difficult.  She's the head housekeeper in the employ of a billionaire in the midst of an economic depression.  Who is she?

So, being a fiction writer accustomed to finding and fleshing out characters, this actually kept me awake last night. Thinking about Mrs. Greer.  What's her first name?  She's a Mrs, so what's the story with the Mr.? How did she come to work for Warbucks?  Where is she from?  What made her who she is now, a woman clearly capable of managing the household of a billionaire?  This is what I found:

Adele MacKay Greer in 1933

Of Scottish descent, originally from Dunmore, PA, near Scranton.   She has seen much tragedy, but has kept her chin up and become a better person for it.

Widowed 17 years ago; husband Edward was killed in a railroad accident where they lived in western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh.  She was left with two young boys, Sylvester, 3, and Alexander, four months. Alexander was very sickly (what we would now know is a heart defect).  Broken and homeless, Adele returned to her parents' home with her boys, took work as a housekeeper for the much-aged-but-rich Mr. and Mrs. Earl and Caroline Fairchild.  Wages paid doctors who really couldn’t do much for her son.  Even the Fairchilds' own doctor couldn't help.  Alexander died before he was 18 months old.

Adele is perhaps a little OCD in her household duties, but it serves her well. After three years in their employ, Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild decided to move to Yonkers to be near their children in their advanced years. They invited/insisted Adele accompany them, which she did reluctantly, leaving Sylvester in the care of her parents.  By that time Sylvester was nearly seven years old and proving to be a big help in his grandfather's repair shop.  Within a year in NY, however, it became apparent that Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild needed more care than what Adele could provide, as their mental capabilities deteriorated markedly with the change of environment.  The Fairchild children, themselves in their 50's, decided to put their parents in a full-time care facility.  Belinda Fairchild Hurst then recommended Adele to a friend of her own housekeeper, Mrs. Rumsford, who was at that time head housekeeper of the Oliver Warbucks household.  Adele struggled with the decision on whether or not to return home to her son and parents, or stay in NY to earn enough money to support them.  Coal mining was the largest industry in NE Pennsylvania, and she didn't want her father or son to have to take mining jobs as the economy declined.  So she elected to stay on in NY, started as a laundry maid and worked her way up over the span of the next eight years, and took over as head housekeeper when Mrs. Rumsford retired four years ago at age 83.

Over the years, Sylvester came to visit at least every other month and Adele took him to baseball games at least once per year. They are both avid Yankees fans, and have a tradition of listening to games on the radio when they aren't together, imagining that they're sitting beside each other in Yankee Stadium.  She wrote him letters at least once a week, almost always including a story she made up in installments.  When he was 12, he started adding to the story in return letters.

Sylvester is now 20 and has worked as a mechanic in Alfred Fairchild's personal garage in Yonkers for nearly two years, maintaining the Bentleys.  They see each other about once per month, still go to Yankees games and listen on the radio.  Adele continues to send nearly all of her wages home to her aging parents.  She is well-paid by Warbucks, and has few expenses, so she is able to support her parents quite well.  (She doesn't know it, but her father is putting most of the money away for safe keeping, because they don't need it.)  Mrs. MacKay has kept all the letters with her stories.

Adele is sharp, intelligent, well-mannered, perhaps necessarily a smidge on the stiff side (except at baseball games!).  She has a soft streak for her son; he's generally the only one who gets to see her fanciful side.  She has a firm grip on real life and its struggles.  She works hard, has earned a great deal of trust from her employers, and deserves every bit of it.  Even though she is well employed, she has been destitute and appreciates her job very much.

Favorite flower: wild daisies

Favorite beverage: unsweetened iced tea with lemon

Favorite color: Yankee blue

Favorite food: Frankfurter loaded with ketchup, onions, mustard, and relish
Favorite sport: Ha!