A brief Bio: Madge was born into a family that had a
strong engineering bent combined with golf leanings. Her father was an electrical engineer and
inventor with a great number of patents to his name. There are several photographs of her father
and mother, Mary, on the “Old Blue Mound Golf Course” or chatting by the trolley
that they took to the club.
Her father graduated from
the University of Michigan with his degree in Electrical Engineering. Her brother also attended the UM to get his
degree in Naval Engineering. Mother
followed, and after a terrible struggle with calculus, was the first woman to
graduate from the UM with a degree in Architectural Engineering and was number
two in her class.
She married number one,
and divorced him a few years later. When
her mother died at age 58, she accompanied her father to the west coast where they
settled in La Jolla. For a while she
worked as an architectural draftsman in the Guiberson offices. There she met a rising young lawyer, Gunny,
and they married in 1938. They had their
only child in 1941 just before the start of WWII. Gunny returned from the war
an alcoholic. Her father, husband, and
daughter all moved to a big house in Chula Vista near the San Diego Golf
Course. There she began a custom
printing business in her basement to support her family.
Madge starting High School.
(More will be posted later)
Love learning about Madge. She was beautiful and smart. Such a capable woman at a time when women were not educated as she was.
ReplyDeleteWhat an accomplished woman: for any age really but especially in that era.
ReplyDeleteThat was a different era and she was either strong stock or terrified by strong parents. Wondering if she took engineering just to prove she could do it, but no having a love of the career?
ReplyDeleteYour mother's shoes in that last photo are swoon-worthy. So beautiful. What a life she lead.
ReplyDelete