December 23, 2024 • 22 mins
This book is a tribute to Elizabeth "Bibs" Metayer, commemorating her groundbreaking role as Braintree's inaugural female State Representative. It honors her extensive and dedicated public service, spanning more than 30 years. The narrative shines a light on her magnetic personality, unwavering commitment to her community, and triumphant election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives […] The post Byrne Corbin Talks with Kate Delaney appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, book lovers, and welcome to Author's Corner. Get ready
for a whirlwind tour of the latest and greatest reads
and the fascinating stories behind them. Join us as we
chat with authors and newsmakers from all over the world,
diving into their journeys and creative processes. And now here's
the host of Author's Corner, the Emmy Award winning Kate Dlady.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Right now on Author's Corner, I'm going to introduce you
to a really neat guy. His name is Burne Corbyn
and the name of the book is Bibbs Cabbages and
King's Lady of the House. Here is this book, and
I have had so much fun reading parts and excerpts
(00:47):
from it, because that's how you can read it. She
really was an incredible woman and what a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And I'm so glad that I was.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Introduced to her through burn burn Thanks for coming on
authors her.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
So nice to be here, Kate, and you would have
loved it too. She would have been a great interview
for you too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh absolutely would.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
We would.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It would have taken hours and we was gone and
had tea and dinner and everything else in between.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
You would have loved that because she she has so
many different same traits because me and trailblazer, I know,
you've one been recognized with a Tvmy and Golden Mics
and uh she was also recognized, uh so many different
awards that she had won throughout her life as being
(01:33):
a pioneer and a trailblaze, and not only in our
famous historic town of Braintree, but in politics as well.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, well, thanks for saying that. That's such a huge
compliment to me.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What made you write this book? What made you decide
I'm going to tackle.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
This project, believe it or not. I found a large
envelope with her handwriting on it that said if I
ever decide to write a book, and voila, here it
is Grandma.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Wow. When you find a large envelope and you started
to go through it, were you just amazed at learning
about her travels, learning about the legislature because she was
a glass ceiling breaker? What was that like to pour
through that?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
It was just overwhelming and seeing every you know, I
knew she was talented. Remember she was a columnist for
a local newspaper in our town, the Braintree Sunday news.
So she wrote for twenty one years these wonderful little
columns called Cabbages and Kings. I too, shall speak of
many things. The Walrus said of shoes and ships and
(02:42):
ceiling wacks of cabbages and kings from Lewis Carroll Alice
in Wonderland. And so she had this incredible command of
vocabulary and in writing even from an early age. Her
classmates in high school recognizes too. I'd love to show
you that her yearbook from nineteen twenty nine, and I
think if there is such a thing as a Hall
(03:03):
of Fame for yearbooks, this one should be in it.
She was one of twenty six girls from a Catholic
high school in nineteen twenty nine graduated, and just the
way they spoke and her command. But that was one
of the things I found so incredibly interesting, but her writings,
that she could turn anything every day ordinary or extraordinary
(03:27):
things into a story or a poem where before it
never existed. And she you know, almost encouraged people to,
you know, see things a little differently, be more keen,
be more observant. And she just amazing gift for writing.
I think is really her talent as well as another
(03:48):
many other things to be able to connect with. And
she loved to challenge. Her middle name was challenge. She
loved to challenge and volunteering. I know you're big with
service and mentoring. And she was such a role model
for you know, odd generation, future generations to endeavor to
achieve their full potential. Is She just loved to encourage
(04:12):
people to learn. And even when she wrote she was
elected to the USL Matthew's House to Representatives, she encouraged
explaining through her writings the political process that was going
on at the time, and you as a freshman, even
encouraging people to challenge her because she would explain the
(04:35):
inner workings of government and challenge people. Maybe you know,
in a couple of years when I'm up, maybe somebody
will challenge me. So she wasn't. She loved teaching and
throughout her whole life she loved to learn. And I
think that was an amazing quality. That one of the
amazing qualities she had.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, and I like the way you take that envelope
and you lay it out where you have the dates,
so you have the dates of what she's writing. And
I picked like one little tiny bit out which you
just mentioned the legislature. And of course that's part of
the title of the book, right, So ten twenty seventy four,
And what's here is lady in the House. And I'll
(05:12):
be a different kind of rep from all the reps,
you know, to be sure, each day at dawn to
the State House, I shall go, and I'll sit with
all the gray beards, I laughed out loud, and I'll
help to make the laws. And when people's rights are threatened,
why all champion their cause and it goes on. And
(05:35):
that just sums up what you just told us about
this amazing woman.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
She had a poem in her part, you know, loved
writing poetry and her readers, you know, not only seeking
adventure for her travels as she journeyed across the US, Canada,
the Canadian Maritimes, Europe, the British Isles in Ireland will
not be disappointed when they read about her travels. And
(06:02):
uh and and uh not only especially those, not only those,
but her people that's uh enjoy and appreciate excellent poetry
and prose. So she just had a gift for poetry
and just float any chance to write a poem like
you read, just read so beautifully. She would write, she'd
(06:24):
love to write about if you know, somebody's retiring, or
write about us, or she'd see things through rose colored glasses.
And she wrote a beautiful poem about this day when
she walked out her front door and with the driveway
with sheathed and ice and snow, and she just thought
it was a beautiful day and she wrote a poem
about that. And her outlook and take on life was
(06:46):
just you know, I'd love, you know, for future generations
to you know, to include her words and and you know,
included in the fabric of our culture because her words
were so powerful.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Were you growing up did you realize, as especially as
you got older, that your grandmother was very special?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I had a lot of people who come up to me,
is that your grandmother? That was grand Marshall in the
parade or throughout the ceremonial, first pitch at Little League,
or rode around town dressed as Abigail Adams and a
colonial costume and an open touring car in the middle
of winter, and yeah, it was. Yes. Usually expect grandmothers
to be at home, cooking elaborate Sunday dinners and sewing
(07:28):
our pajamas, and she did all that and was this amazing.
I don't know how she found time to do it all,
just an amazing energy level, was just fabulous, off the charts.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It was you mentioned Abigail Adams. You and I talked
off the air and you were telling me she really
had a love for Abigail Adams.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
She really did, and that's what drew her to Braintree
as a child that growing up in Boston, to move
to the historic town of bran Tree, mass She loved,
you know, Abigail, as you know, wrote some history's most
refreshing and lovely letters. You know, while her husband, John
was away attending to affairs of the state and founding
New Nations as a founding father. She loved. She delighted
(08:11):
in her Abigail's request of John as he dealt with
the Declaration of Independence to remember the ladies.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Remember the ladies.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, and I love that that that you know. But she,
you know, devoured books, especially you know, history and Abigail
and John Adams. That you know, that's you know, the
importance of having a role model and a mentor. And
hopefully some you know, people will find that in my grandmother.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
What surprised you And this is a tough question because
all of it's so amazing. But what surprised you the
most in all of the writings that you found.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
That how hard she worked at the State House. She
would be coming home, you know, doing twenty four hour days.
It was funny she wrote in the book how she
was coming home at about five in the morning and
somebody was walking a dog and you know shouted. You know,
that must have been some party you went to, and
it wasn't a party. She was working all night. And
(09:09):
how hard the legislators work, and especially when she was
a freshman legislator and the new Dacaccus administration and the
Massachusetts' economy was in shambles similar to New York at
those times in nineteen seventy four, and the burden she
had that her mother's hot ached making these decisions to
cut things out of the budget that you know, somebody
(09:33):
may not get the care they needed, or their child,
you know, or elderly people. So she sought to emphasize,
you know the role of women and mothers in our economy,
in our life and our world, that they and so
they were just that That's really what impressed me most
was how hrgdh she worked and not realizing as a
(09:53):
young person, you know, all the little things that went
into being in a state representative and what's so interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, and what's so interesting about that too? And you
heard when I read that where she mentioned graybeards. She
was the first woman. I mean, she really was the trailblazer.
But yet she could get along with the men and
do what she needed to do.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
She did. She you know, made up her mind she's
not going to fight the men, She's gonna work with them.
And that's what she did. She really made such a difference.
It was funny. She got in trouble once, not in trouble,
but they somebody picked it up because she could after
a while when she's in the legislature, she set off
the cuff that she could run circles around half the
(10:35):
men in there. And she could. And so somebody didn't
like the fact that she said that and wrote this
letter that was in that large envelope that I mentioned
that had if I ever decided to write a book,
And it was a funny letter because this person, probably
a man, took time to write out you know that
self praise is no praise and had this thing, you know,
he was kind of complaining about every little thing, and
(10:56):
that was one of them. That how she could say
that she could run circles around half the men in
that But you know, she admitted that there were, you know,
there were different types of characters in the state House.
Some were you know, fumbled for words, others were eloquent
and silky voices. So and great debaters. So she acknowledged it.
There was some wonderful uh you know, comrades and colleagues
(11:19):
in the state House.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I mean, it's awesome that you put this book together
and you found that envelope. Why do you think she
never did the book?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Well, I think she was so busy being a grandmother,
and I think she knew maybe that I would do
something like this, and she made it. You know, she
organized a lot too, and and uh so a lot
of her scrap books, uh had these interesting photos, got
millions of photos of her with interesting people, heads of state,
presidential candidates, the mayor of pe King China. And you
(11:53):
could see that this reaction that they squeezed in her
hand and the delighted to be with her. She just
said that away with with people. In fact, the funny
I love her, Uh there's a picture of her Arthur Fiedler,
who was the conductor of the Boston Pops for forty years.
And uh, she got to tell Arthur Fiedler that her
father was a structural engineer that worked on the hat
(12:15):
shell in Boston where he performed on the on the
banks of the river Charles Independence Day free concerts. That
was his legacy, Arthur Fiedler is music for the masses free.
And she got you. There's a picture of her holding
and they're both delighted. They're like little school kids. And
he's got a big smile, doesn't she. And she was
that way with everybody, whether it was the Boy Scouts
(12:37):
of America or whatever. Fact. Speaking of the Boy Scouts,
she won she was the first female to be awarded
the Distinguished Citizen of the Year award by the Boy
Scouts of America, another first for females. So that this
kind of influence she had and service to others is was,
(12:58):
you know, her main thing. She doing it anytime she
could feel like she could help somebody.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And by the way, so Bibbs, Cabbages and Kings, Lady
of the House, you can get this on Amazon or
River Great Books are sold and you said it she
had we go back to what you were talking about initially,
which is so cool and why she was so Verbosa
had a great skill and command of the language. Is
(13:24):
with cabbages and kings. She also would be pretty much
a glass ceiling breaker there because if you look at
the journalism and in Boston and that industry, the newspaper industry,
whether it's a local paper a bigger paper, doesn't matter.
There still weren't a lot of women.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
There weren't and unbelievably that she was able to. It
didn't FaZe her that she knew, you know, if she
was confident, she was confident that she could do anything
and that she set her mind to. And even though
she was defeated in nineteen sixty six, she won in
nineteen seventy four and it didn't phase her. It was
(14:05):
interesting when she received the official notification letter from the
Secretary of the Commonwealth being the first female. I love
the letter that I still have. It begins with the
words sir, and you know she was a female, and
it like they didn't even take the time to realize.
So I know, sir, if you're a sir in England,
that's a big honor. So I'll take that as an
(14:26):
honor for her being called the sir.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And you know, I grew up in the Northeast, and
obviously you did too, in the Boston area, and I
think for other parts of the country too, and other
parts of the world. People listening to us, there's something
about having that nickname. And so Elizabeth is Bibbs, and
people call her Bibbs.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
They did all the time. It was great. And even
the Speaker of the House or the governor would call
her Bibs. Ted Kennedy that she sometimes would run into
was Bibbs, and it was awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Right because she had that nickname.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And speaking of the Kennedys, of course, the Kennedys and
how big they are obviously in Massachusetts and politics and
the history there, and she writes about you know, JFK.
And she talks about that, and I thought it was
very moving in what she had to say there, because again,
that legacy, whatever it would have been, was cut short,
(15:24):
as we all know, and that was personal to so
many people in Massachusetts, it was.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
And she wrote a beautiful poem and story about the
year anniversaries of nineteen sixty four. The inverse the anniversary
of his death, and I think I remember as a child,
I was a young person, two years old, and everybody
huddled around the family television set and people were weeping,
(15:52):
And that was my first impression of a parade, and
it was his, you know, his funeral procession, and I
remember seeing that one of my more early memories as
a young person, with everybody crying watching him his funeral possession.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Absolutely, and obviously touched her as well, you know. And
as you get deeper into the book too, where she
talks about her travels and you mentioned that, boy, nothing
was off the table. I mean they went on the
road and that was it. They were going to see everything.
So she also had some I think, and you could
tell us, but I think she had some wonderlust that
she wanted to see the rest of the world.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
She really didn't. She traveled with my grandfather, her husband, Ted,
and a fan trailer that they called Fanny, and they
had at nineteen seventy Chevy and Pala and they trailed that.
My grandfather was a bus driver for Greyhound for many years,
used to win all kinds of medals for safe driving,
and he had a beautiful uniform you used to wear.
(16:54):
And so they traveled all over the US, in Canada
and the maritime provinces, this fan trailer and some interesting,
beautiful you'll feel like you're right there with her when
you read about her adventures and tales, and then normally
that but in Europe too. She traveled to Europe, duck
(17:17):
behind the Berlin Wall, took a train behind East Berlin
in the sixties, was on a Russian boat that they
felt like, you know, like a James bond Ian Flemings
being tailed because they were just as interested in them
as they were of her. She traveled with newspaper credentials,
so she really got, you know, plied some of the
(17:39):
rangers and the people there that were conducting the tours
with questions. And so I think in the book you'll
find the story within the story is a lot of her.
You know, it'll lead you somewhere else. She'll drop some
important names and it's going to make you want to
find out who are these people? Sir Walter Scott, Robert Montgomery,
and just so many into resting of her travel trailers
(18:01):
that you feel like you're right there with her. Mount
Rushmore was some beautiful fact that the director of Travel
for South Dakota, Miss dj Klein, wrote to her when
a copy of an article came across her desk in
nineteen seventy one, which was, you know, interesting that she
just absolutely loved the coverage of how she wrote about
(18:25):
Mount Rushmore and the beautiful state and so her it
crossed the whole country, that her travel trailers and how
her words. You know, you just had an ability to
express that wonder lust that you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Yeah, you know we said at the beginning, you get
the envelope and you decide, Okay, I'm going to put
this together. But it's pretty arduous task.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
She organized some things for you, Like you said, she
might have known you were going to do this for you,
and going through it, we talked about, Wow, it was
really interesting. How exciting was it to finish it and
actually have this product versus your busy you got your
family of things going on. As much as you want
to do it, it's just too much of a big thing,
(19:12):
but you did it.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
It was it was a labor of love. Okay, it
really was. I mean, I it just you know, I
felt like I almost I would feel guilty if I
didn't do it, you know, to infuse her powerful words
into the fabric of our culture. I think it's an
important book for a lot of reasons, and to people
(19:35):
to study it and learn from it and be inspired
and to you know, know that the sky's the limit
when you you know, one of the ingredients for a
recipe is successful living. And she kind of had that
with enthusiasm, hope, faith, to you know, encourage people of
future generations, you know, to achieve their full potential. And
(19:56):
you know, and I think she did that by leading
by example.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Ye absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Do you think she did that for you? I mean,
you've had a successful.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Career, Yes, I've you know, had my own construction business,
a subcontractor for twenty five years. And but I moved
to Florida because she moved to Florida. I followed her
from Boston to Pompino Beach. She was just this incredible
lady that I absolutely loved. I used to cry whenever
I left her home when I was a little kid.
(20:24):
And and I see that in some of my nieces
and nephews that she had this way that just would
connect with you. And I think she did know that
I would eventually do this because she used to help
me with my homework, any kind of writing project I had,
creative writing, she would be right there offering and would
(20:45):
type my homework. And just I do think and I
feel her presence, but she she was just amazing and
she she wrote, helped create a couple of different books.
Braintreart Town is a little book that her and her
club woman presented. She was a member of all these
(21:05):
different women's clubs and they thought it was a good
idea to create this book. Being from a famous town
of Braintree, mass birthplace of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
In this beautiful book, she created Braintree our Town, and
so she she had she wasn't a stranger to books
and creating books, and I think she maybe passed that
(21:27):
along to me. I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Perfect place to end this. Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Just you know this book is a treasure.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It is. It does motivate you. It's very motivating.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Thank you. I definitely feel that, and I know people
are really respond to it and enjoy her powerful words.
And it's been such a pleasure speaking with you.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Kate Corn. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
My pleasure
Hello, book lovers, and welcome to Author's Corner. Get ready
for a whirlwind tour of the latest and greatest reads
and the fascinating stories behind them. Join us as we
chat with authors and newsmakers from all over the world,
diving into their journeys and creative processes. And now here's
the host of Author's Corner, the Emmy Award winning Kate Dlady.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Well, I'll tell you what.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Right now on Author's Corner, I'm going to introduce you
to a really neat guy. His name is Burne Corbyn
and the name of the book is Bibbs Cabbages and
King's Lady of the House. Here is this book, and
I have had so much fun reading parts and excerpts
(00:47):
from it, because that's how you can read it. She
really was an incredible woman and what a trailblazer.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
And I'm so glad that I was.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Introduced to her through burn burn Thanks for coming on
authors her.
Speaker 4 (01:00):
So nice to be here, Kate, and you would have
loved it too. She would have been a great interview
for you too.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Oh absolutely would.
Speaker 4 (01:06):
We would.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
It would have taken hours and we was gone and
had tea and dinner and everything else in between.
Speaker 4 (01:12):
You would have loved that because she she has so
many different same traits because me and trailblazer, I know,
you've one been recognized with a Tvmy and Golden Mics
and uh she was also recognized, uh so many different
awards that she had won throughout her life as being
(01:33):
a pioneer and a trailblaze, and not only in our
famous historic town of Braintree, but in politics as well.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah, well, thanks for saying that. That's such a huge
compliment to me.
Speaker 4 (01:43):
You're welcome.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
What made you write this book? What made you decide
I'm going to tackle.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
This project, believe it or not. I found a large
envelope with her handwriting on it that said if I
ever decide to write a book, and voila, here it
is Grandma.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Wow. When you find a large envelope and you started
to go through it, were you just amazed at learning
about her travels, learning about the legislature because she was
a glass ceiling breaker? What was that like to pour
through that?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
It was just overwhelming and seeing every you know, I
knew she was talented. Remember she was a columnist for
a local newspaper in our town, the Braintree Sunday news.
So she wrote for twenty one years these wonderful little
columns called Cabbages and Kings. I too, shall speak of
many things. The Walrus said of shoes and ships and
(02:42):
ceiling wacks of cabbages and kings from Lewis Carroll Alice
in Wonderland. And so she had this incredible command of
vocabulary and in writing even from an early age. Her
classmates in high school recognizes too. I'd love to show
you that her yearbook from nineteen twenty nine, and I
think if there is such a thing as a Hall
(03:03):
of Fame for yearbooks, this one should be in it.
She was one of twenty six girls from a Catholic
high school in nineteen twenty nine graduated, and just the
way they spoke and her command. But that was one
of the things I found so incredibly interesting, but her writings,
that she could turn anything every day ordinary or extraordinary
(03:27):
things into a story or a poem where before it
never existed. And she you know, almost encouraged people to,
you know, see things a little differently, be more keen,
be more observant. And she just amazing gift for writing.
I think is really her talent as well as another
(03:48):
many other things to be able to connect with. And
she loved to challenge. Her middle name was challenge. She
loved to challenge and volunteering. I know you're big with
service and mentoring. And she was such a role model
for you know, odd generation, future generations to endeavor to
achieve their full potential. Is She just loved to encourage
(04:12):
people to learn. And even when she wrote she was
elected to the USL Matthew's House to Representatives, she encouraged
explaining through her writings the political process that was going
on at the time, and you as a freshman, even
encouraging people to challenge her because she would explain the
(04:35):
inner workings of government and challenge people. Maybe you know,
in a couple of years when I'm up, maybe somebody
will challenge me. So she wasn't. She loved teaching and
throughout her whole life she loved to learn. And I
think that was an amazing quality. That one of the
amazing qualities she had.
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, and I like the way you take that envelope
and you lay it out where you have the dates,
so you have the dates of what she's writing. And
I picked like one little tiny bit out which you
just mentioned the legislature. And of course that's part of
the title of the book, right, So ten twenty seventy four,
And what's here is lady in the House. And I'll
(05:12):
be a different kind of rep from all the reps,
you know, to be sure, each day at dawn to
the State House, I shall go, and I'll sit with
all the gray beards, I laughed out loud, and I'll
help to make the laws. And when people's rights are threatened,
why all champion their cause and it goes on. And
(05:35):
that just sums up what you just told us about
this amazing woman.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
She had a poem in her part, you know, loved
writing poetry and her readers, you know, not only seeking
adventure for her travels as she journeyed across the US, Canada,
the Canadian Maritimes, Europe, the British Isles in Ireland will
not be disappointed when they read about her travels. And
(06:02):
uh and and uh not only especially those, not only those,
but her people that's uh enjoy and appreciate excellent poetry
and prose. So she just had a gift for poetry
and just float any chance to write a poem like
you read, just read so beautifully. She would write, she'd
(06:24):
love to write about if you know, somebody's retiring, or
write about us, or she'd see things through rose colored glasses.
And she wrote a beautiful poem about this day when
she walked out her front door and with the driveway
with sheathed and ice and snow, and she just thought
it was a beautiful day and she wrote a poem
about that. And her outlook and take on life was
(06:46):
just you know, I'd love, you know, for future generations
to you know, to include her words and and you know,
included in the fabric of our culture because her words
were so powerful.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
Were you growing up did you realize, as especially as
you got older, that your grandmother was very special?
Speaker 4 (07:05):
I had a lot of people who come up to me,
is that your grandmother? That was grand Marshall in the
parade or throughout the ceremonial, first pitch at Little League,
or rode around town dressed as Abigail Adams and a
colonial costume and an open touring car in the middle
of winter, and yeah, it was. Yes. Usually expect grandmothers
to be at home, cooking elaborate Sunday dinners and sewing
(07:28):
our pajamas, and she did all that and was this amazing.
I don't know how she found time to do it all,
just an amazing energy level, was just fabulous, off the charts.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
It was you mentioned Abigail Adams. You and I talked
off the air and you were telling me she really
had a love for Abigail Adams.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
She really did, and that's what drew her to Braintree
as a child that growing up in Boston, to move
to the historic town of bran Tree, mass She loved,
you know, Abigail, as you know, wrote some history's most
refreshing and lovely letters. You know, while her husband, John
was away attending to affairs of the state and founding
New Nations as a founding father. She loved. She delighted
(08:11):
in her Abigail's request of John as he dealt with
the Declaration of Independence to remember the ladies.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Remember the ladies.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Yeah, and I love that that that you know. But she,
you know, devoured books, especially you know, history and Abigail
and John Adams. That you know, that's you know, the
importance of having a role model and a mentor. And
hopefully some you know, people will find that in my grandmother.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
What surprised you And this is a tough question because
all of it's so amazing. But what surprised you the
most in all of the writings that you found.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
That how hard she worked at the State House. She
would be coming home, you know, doing twenty four hour days.
It was funny she wrote in the book how she
was coming home at about five in the morning and
somebody was walking a dog and you know shouted. You know,
that must have been some party you went to, and
it wasn't a party. She was working all night. And
(09:09):
how hard the legislators work, and especially when she was
a freshman legislator and the new Dacaccus administration and the
Massachusetts' economy was in shambles similar to New York at
those times in nineteen seventy four, and the burden she
had that her mother's hot ached making these decisions to
cut things out of the budget that you know, somebody
(09:33):
may not get the care they needed, or their child,
you know, or elderly people. So she sought to emphasize,
you know the role of women and mothers in our economy,
in our life and our world, that they and so
they were just that That's really what impressed me most
was how hrgdh she worked and not realizing as a
(09:53):
young person, you know, all the little things that went
into being in a state representative and what's so interesting.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
Yeah, and what's so interesting about that too? And you
heard when I read that where she mentioned graybeards. She
was the first woman. I mean, she really was the trailblazer.
But yet she could get along with the men and
do what she needed to do.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
She did. She you know, made up her mind she's
not going to fight the men, She's gonna work with them.
And that's what she did. She really made such a difference.
It was funny. She got in trouble once, not in trouble,
but they somebody picked it up because she could after
a while when she's in the legislature, she set off
the cuff that she could run circles around half the
(10:35):
men in there. And she could. And so somebody didn't
like the fact that she said that and wrote this
letter that was in that large envelope that I mentioned
that had if I ever decided to write a book,
And it was a funny letter because this person, probably
a man, took time to write out you know that
self praise is no praise and had this thing, you know,
he was kind of complaining about every little thing, and
(10:56):
that was one of them. That how she could say
that she could run circles around half the men in
that But you know, she admitted that there were, you know,
there were different types of characters in the state House.
Some were you know, fumbled for words, others were eloquent
and silky voices. So and great debaters. So she acknowledged it.
There was some wonderful uh you know, comrades and colleagues
(11:19):
in the state House.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
I mean, it's awesome that you put this book together
and you found that envelope. Why do you think she
never did the book?
Speaker 4 (11:28):
Well, I think she was so busy being a grandmother,
and I think she knew maybe that I would do
something like this, and she made it. You know, she
organized a lot too, and and uh so a lot
of her scrap books, uh had these interesting photos, got
millions of photos of her with interesting people, heads of state,
presidential candidates, the mayor of pe King China. And you
(11:53):
could see that this reaction that they squeezed in her
hand and the delighted to be with her. She just
said that away with with people. In fact, the funny
I love her, Uh there's a picture of her Arthur Fiedler,
who was the conductor of the Boston Pops for forty years.
And uh, she got to tell Arthur Fiedler that her
father was a structural engineer that worked on the hat
(12:15):
shell in Boston where he performed on the on the
banks of the river Charles Independence Day free concerts. That
was his legacy, Arthur Fiedler is music for the masses free.
And she got you. There's a picture of her holding
and they're both delighted. They're like little school kids. And
he's got a big smile, doesn't she. And she was
that way with everybody, whether it was the Boy Scouts
(12:37):
of America or whatever. Fact. Speaking of the Boy Scouts,
she won she was the first female to be awarded
the Distinguished Citizen of the Year award by the Boy
Scouts of America, another first for females. So that this
kind of influence she had and service to others is was,
(12:58):
you know, her main thing. She doing it anytime she
could feel like she could help somebody.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
And by the way, so Bibbs, Cabbages and Kings, Lady
of the House, you can get this on Amazon or
River Great Books are sold and you said it she
had we go back to what you were talking about initially,
which is so cool and why she was so Verbosa
had a great skill and command of the language. Is
(13:24):
with cabbages and kings. She also would be pretty much
a glass ceiling breaker there because if you look at
the journalism and in Boston and that industry, the newspaper industry,
whether it's a local paper a bigger paper, doesn't matter.
There still weren't a lot of women.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
There weren't and unbelievably that she was able to. It
didn't FaZe her that she knew, you know, if she
was confident, she was confident that she could do anything
and that she set her mind to. And even though
she was defeated in nineteen sixty six, she won in
nineteen seventy four and it didn't phase her. It was
(14:05):
interesting when she received the official notification letter from the
Secretary of the Commonwealth being the first female. I love
the letter that I still have. It begins with the
words sir, and you know she was a female, and
it like they didn't even take the time to realize.
So I know, sir, if you're a sir in England,
that's a big honor. So I'll take that as an
(14:26):
honor for her being called the sir.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
And you know, I grew up in the Northeast, and
obviously you did too, in the Boston area, and I
think for other parts of the country too, and other
parts of the world. People listening to us, there's something
about having that nickname. And so Elizabeth is Bibbs, and
people call her Bibbs.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
They did all the time. It was great. And even
the Speaker of the House or the governor would call
her Bibs. Ted Kennedy that she sometimes would run into
was Bibbs, and it was awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Right because she had that nickname.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
And speaking of the Kennedys, of course, the Kennedys and
how big they are obviously in Massachusetts and politics and
the history there, and she writes about you know, JFK.
And she talks about that, and I thought it was
very moving in what she had to say there, because again,
that legacy, whatever it would have been, was cut short,
(15:24):
as we all know, and that was personal to so
many people in Massachusetts, it was.
Speaker 4 (15:31):
And she wrote a beautiful poem and story about the
year anniversaries of nineteen sixty four. The inverse the anniversary
of his death, and I think I remember as a child,
I was a young person, two years old, and everybody
huddled around the family television set and people were weeping,
(15:52):
And that was my first impression of a parade, and
it was his, you know, his funeral procession, and I
remember seeing that one of my more early memories as
a young person, with everybody crying watching him his funeral possession.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:10):
Absolutely, and obviously touched her as well, you know. And
as you get deeper into the book too, where she
talks about her travels and you mentioned that, boy, nothing
was off the table. I mean they went on the
road and that was it. They were going to see everything.
So she also had some I think, and you could
tell us, but I think she had some wonderlust that
she wanted to see the rest of the world.
Speaker 4 (16:32):
She really didn't. She traveled with my grandfather, her husband, Ted,
and a fan trailer that they called Fanny, and they
had at nineteen seventy Chevy and Pala and they trailed that.
My grandfather was a bus driver for Greyhound for many years,
used to win all kinds of medals for safe driving,
and he had a beautiful uniform you used to wear.
(16:54):
And so they traveled all over the US, in Canada
and the maritime provinces, this fan trailer and some interesting,
beautiful you'll feel like you're right there with her when
you read about her adventures and tales, and then normally
that but in Europe too. She traveled to Europe, duck
(17:17):
behind the Berlin Wall, took a train behind East Berlin
in the sixties, was on a Russian boat that they
felt like, you know, like a James bond Ian Flemings
being tailed because they were just as interested in them
as they were of her. She traveled with newspaper credentials,
so she really got, you know, plied some of the
(17:39):
rangers and the people there that were conducting the tours
with questions. And so I think in the book you'll
find the story within the story is a lot of her.
You know, it'll lead you somewhere else. She'll drop some
important names and it's going to make you want to
find out who are these people? Sir Walter Scott, Robert Montgomery,
and just so many into resting of her travel trailers
(18:01):
that you feel like you're right there with her. Mount
Rushmore was some beautiful fact that the director of Travel
for South Dakota, Miss dj Klein, wrote to her when
a copy of an article came across her desk in
nineteen seventy one, which was, you know, interesting that she
just absolutely loved the coverage of how she wrote about
(18:25):
Mount Rushmore and the beautiful state and so her it
crossed the whole country, that her travel trailers and how
her words. You know, you just had an ability to
express that wonder lust that you mentioned.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
Yeah, you know we said at the beginning, you get
the envelope and you decide, Okay, I'm going to put
this together. But it's pretty arduous task.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
You know.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
She organized some things for you, Like you said, she
might have known you were going to do this for you,
and going through it, we talked about, Wow, it was
really interesting. How exciting was it to finish it and
actually have this product versus your busy you got your
family of things going on. As much as you want
to do it, it's just too much of a big thing,
(19:12):
but you did it.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
It was it was a labor of love. Okay, it
really was. I mean, I it just you know, I
felt like I almost I would feel guilty if I
didn't do it, you know, to infuse her powerful words
into the fabric of our culture. I think it's an
important book for a lot of reasons, and to people
(19:35):
to study it and learn from it and be inspired
and to you know, know that the sky's the limit
when you you know, one of the ingredients for a
recipe is successful living. And she kind of had that
with enthusiasm, hope, faith, to you know, encourage people of
future generations, you know, to achieve their full potential. And
(19:56):
you know, and I think she did that by leading
by example.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Ye absolutely.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Do you think she did that for you? I mean,
you've had a successful.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Career, Yes, I've you know, had my own construction business,
a subcontractor for twenty five years. And but I moved
to Florida because she moved to Florida. I followed her
from Boston to Pompino Beach. She was just this incredible
lady that I absolutely loved. I used to cry whenever
I left her home when I was a little kid.
(20:24):
And and I see that in some of my nieces
and nephews that she had this way that just would
connect with you. And I think she did know that
I would eventually do this because she used to help
me with my homework, any kind of writing project I had,
creative writing, she would be right there offering and would
(20:45):
type my homework. And just I do think and I
feel her presence, but she she was just amazing and
she she wrote, helped create a couple of different books.
Braintreart Town is a little book that her and her
club woman presented. She was a member of all these
(21:05):
different women's clubs and they thought it was a good
idea to create this book. Being from a famous town
of Braintree, mass birthplace of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
In this beautiful book, she created Braintree our Town, and
so she she had she wasn't a stranger to books
and creating books, and I think she maybe passed that
(21:27):
along to me. I love it.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
Perfect place to end this. Wow.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
Just you know this book is a treasure.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
It is. It does motivate you. It's very motivating.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
Thank you. I definitely feel that, and I know people
are really respond to it and enjoy her powerful words.
And it's been such a pleasure speaking with you.
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Kate Corn. Thank you so much.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
My pleasure
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