Mary Becker and Gordon Christopher Greene circa 1920
Portrait of Greene at the National Rivers Hall of Fame

Captain Mary Becker Greene (1867 - April 22, 1949), was steamboat captain of the Greene Line of river steamboats.[1] She was the only female steamboat captain in Ohio.

Biography

She was born in 1867. She married Gordon Christopher Greene in 1890 and they had as their children Thomas Rea Greene, Henry Wilkens Greene, and Christopher Becker Greene. Greene earned her captain's license in 1897.[2]

She died on Fri., April 22, 1949 aboard her boat, Delta Queen, after leaving New Orleans.[3][4] Her spirit is said to still haunt the ship.

In 1988, Greene was inducted into the National Rivers Hall of Fame.[5]

References

  1. "Marker #10-84 Captain Gordon C. Greene / Captain Mary Becker Greene". Remarkable Ohio. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2011-02-25. ... Mary Becker Greene (1867-1949) married Gordon C. Greene in 1890 and raised three sons - Captain Chris, Captain Tom, and Henry Wilkins. She learned navigation and earned a pilot and masters license, becoming one of the most noted figures on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers for more than a half century. The "Greene Line" fleet continued to expand with additions of the "Gordon C. Greene" and the "Delta Queen." Captain Mary Greene served as hostess on these steamboats. She died at the age of 81 on the renowned "Delta Queen," a National Historic Landmark.
  2. "Records show there were at least". Quad-City Times. 2 December 1970. Retrieved 2018-05-07 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Capt. Mary B. Greene Dies; Ohio's Only Woman Steamer Pilot". Chicago Tribune. April 23, 1949. Retrieved 2011-02-27. Mary Becker Greene, 80. only woman steamboat pilot on the Ohio river, died today aboard a Greene line steamer, the Delta Queen. Capt. ...
  4. "Woman River Captain Dies In Cincinnati". United Press. April 23, 1949. Retrieved 2011-02-27. Mary Becker Greene, one of the few women to gain the rank of captain-pilot on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, died here last night. ...
  5. "Hall of Fame Inducts Four for River Work". The Des Moines Register. 1 May 1988. Retrieved 2018-05-07 via Newspapers.com.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.