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
editShe 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] Folk musician Jake Speed's "Captain Mary" (2003) was inspired by Greene's life.
References
edit- ^ "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.
- ^ "Records show there were at least". Quad-City Times. 2 December 1970. Retrieved 2018-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Capt. Mary B. Greene Dies; Ohio's Only Woman Steamer Pilot". Chicago Tribune. April 23, 1949. Archived from the original on February 1, 2013. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ "Woman River Captain Dies In Cincinnati". United Press. April 23, 1949. Retrieved 2011-02-27.
- ^ "Hall of Fame Inducts Four for River Work". The Des Moines Register. 1 May 1988. Retrieved 2018-05-07 – via Newspapers.com.