Muriel Greenhouse, MOF

I always looked up to my grandmother, Muriel "Bosh" nee Brandwein Greenhouse, even literally, as the photo above depicts. Today would have been her 100th birthday! She lived from August 9, 1924 – July 16, 2011, and what a life it was!

Everyone knew Bosh to be a smart, compassionate, savvy, practical, social, humorous woman, with a memory that would astound you. As I got older, I realized just how remarkable she was. Her extensive personal recollections served as a major source for book published shortly after her passing about her hometown Perth Amboy, NJ, where she and her beloved husband Marvin raised their four sons. I remember being in awe of the list she compiled of literally hundreds of names of people and businesses in the town she loved so dearly. She was the kind of person who made friends wherever she went. I was 28 when she died, which was old enough to get to know her and what mattered to her before it was too late. I remember the exact dates of her birthday and passing, as I did every year and will every year since. The dates represented my grandmother's life. Her whole life. The beginning, the end, the “-”, which means the middle, her experience. To some it's just a dash, to her and our whole family it comprised her legacy.

Bosh was always good with money, even serving as a treasurer of her local Hadassah for 17 years, and organized beyond belief. Everything had its place in her home. In later years, she made sure that most of the items were labeled. She'd place the labels anywhere she could to identify not only what they were, but what they meant to her. This was in large part because she wanted to make it easy for anyone going through her belongings. She had a book she made to make it easier for my dad, who served as the executor, called: "Before, During, & After". She wrote her own obituary, which she edited a few times, but it was still her words, what she wanted, and in the right order. She had two different versions. She was well-prepared. She had one just in case her son, my uncle Ken, who was ill with ALS passed away first. Incredibly, her son died 12 hours later, though he wasn't informed she died. No one could argue they had very special bond. She mentioned a preference to die at home but was in a rehab facility to alleviate her full time caregiver when she passed. However, she also ended up sparing her caregiver, Mary, who was like the daughter she never had, the sadness of finding her.

My grandmother attended Ohio University only briefly, as her parents could not afford the tuition. This was before the financial aid era and funds weren't accessible. She applied to Rutgers - Douglass College, the school from which I graduated. Although she was eager to attend, despite her superior grades and extracurricular activities, there were quotas, and she was unfortunately rejected. At the time that's exactly how she felt. Eventually she came to terms with it and knew it was a reflection of the circumstances: it was not about her specifically, it was about what she represented. So instead, she attended OU for a few semesters and enjoyed her time there.

Sometime after the stint in college, she went to Packard Business School. She then got a job at the Office of Price Administration as Assistant Chief Clerk of the Perth Amboy Rationing Board, served the community as an air raid warden, and was an office manager for 20 years before retiring in 1987. She had a career but was primarily a stay at home mom, busy raising four boys. As they got older, she became very active in the boys' school and community activities, serving as PTA President and as a Cub Scout leader. As a busy mom of four, she ran the household.

Although there were many, one of my favorite recollections of home life she shared occurred in the late 1950s, when she received a package of sheets from Springmaid. The set was supposed to include a top and fitted sheet, but instead contained two fitted sheets. She typed and mailed a letter to a customer service representative to inform him of the issue. Not only did he immediately send her back a letter apologizing for the error, but he also sent her a new package and an extra top sheet. He signed his name with "MA" after it. My grandma wrote back thanking him and saying she would continue to purchase the company's bedding. Conscious of not having a degree that would enable her to have an acronym after her name, in an effort to demonstrate a little clout, and to show her funny side, she signed her name with the following made up acronym: "MOF". While it wasn't an MA, MBA, or PhD, and no one would have any idea know what it meant, she did. It stood for “Mother Of Four”. That was her title and no one could take it away from her. She received a letter back from the Springmaid representative inquiring if it stood for "Masters Of Fine" something-or-other. She replied explaining that it stood of Mother Of Four. She also said that if he was ever in the neighborhood, he was welcome to come over the house to see that the sheets were being put to good use. She ended her letter by saying her home was a place "where the door is always open and the toilet seat is always up!" It was only fitting, coming from a MOF. ??

Sara Greenhouse is a dynamic connector and dedicated relationship cultivator. After a successful track record in fundraising, she founded a marketing company, Generate Buzz, LLC, in 2013. Using her superior verbal and written communication skills, the company provides a unique, cross-disciplinary integration of traditional and digital marketing. The name Generate Buzz is much more than simply a brand name; it declares Sara's passion to help small businesses achieve greater success and promote positive social change. Generate Buzz, LLC offers per diem consulting in copywriting: persuasive, creative, and comedy, as well as editing and proofing services. She prides herself on effective communication with anyone from board members to babies. Her words have been described as “Aretha Franklin meets Dr. Seuss.” You can rest assured that your message will be tailored to your collateral materials and social media platforms, conveying the right message, to the right audience, through the right channels, at the right time, all with the utmost integrity and enthusiasm.

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