52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 4 - Education

This week I want to write about my mother, Emily McGreal Chapman. She passed away in 2021 and I miss her terribly.

As children, we tend to focus on our parents in their role as parent, and I'm no different. Mom was there for my school plays, made my favorite meal for my birthday, drove me to Girl Scout meetings, dried my tears after my first breakup with a boyfriend, and many many more. Mom was the one who took us clothes shopping for school, packed the picnic lunches, and did the “housekeeping” at the housekeeping cottages. In my child’s view, everything just happened, and I wasn’t aware of all the work that went into making our lives run smoothly. It was while I was composing a eulogy to read at my mom's memorial service that it struck me that I hadn't thought of my mom as a woman. She grew up during the depression and World War II. How did that affect her? What were her hopes and fears? Did she have dreams other than being a wife and mother?

So this week's topic, Education, will be about my mom. She never finished high school - I was vaguely aware of this growing up. Later in life, while raising four children, she got her GED, went to community college for nursing, and had a successful career.

Emily Elizabeth McGreal, was born in 1933 in Rochester, New York, the 3rd of seven children of Austin and Miriam Meyers McGreal. Mom went to Catholic grammar school, graduating after 8th grade.

Emily McGreal - Irondequoit High School freshman. In back row, third from right.

She didn't do well at the public high school, failing her algebra class and looking with dread at summer school.

Her mother (my grandmother) pulled her out of school and sent her to a two year program at St. Joseph's business school in downtown Rochester. She took shorthand, typing, bookkeeping and business English, enjoyed it and got good grades. After graduation she got a job at a local bank which she kept until she married my dad in 1955.

Photo found in my mother's belongings. Dated 1950. Possibly a graduation picture from the St. Joseph Business school.

My siblings and I came along - three of us in the first four years of their marriage. and the last one after a gap of a few years. My dad was establishing his career as a chemical engineer, and we made multiple moves cross country as he changed jobs. Mom took care of her expanding family and made a home until they settled in western New York in the mid-1960s.

Some time in the late 1960s, around when my youngest sibling started school, Mom decided she wanted to go to college. My dad enthusiastically supported her. She had to get her GED first before applying to the local community college. After lots of hard work, Mom graduated from Niagara County Community College in June 1971 with an associates degree in Nursing.

She worked as a recovery room nurse for several years before returning to her alma mater as a nursing instructor until her retirement.

Mom's education, although non-traditional, had many lasting benefits. Her financial contribution relieved the pressure on my Dad as the breadwinner and helped fund a full, long, and satisfying retirement for my parents. And personally, Mom was a role model for me as I also took a non-traditional educational path in my life.