Coffee with Mary Downs: A conversation with MSUM’s First Lady
Mary Downs grew up in a multigeneration home because, as she unabashedly shares, “We were poor and shared a house with my grandparents. I shared a room with my great-grandma. It may not have been a joy for my parents to live like that, but as a kid, having my grandparents and great-grandma around meant somebody was always there.”
Her courageous and hardworking Grandma Blake was Rosie the Riveter, working for McDonnell Douglas. “She was so small she could get in the nose of a plane, and they sent her in there to do the wiring and check the rivets,” Mary recalls. “She was my hero. She wouldn’t tolerate crying or whining. If things didn’t go your way, her attitude was to pick yourself up, learn from it, and move on.”
Her Great Grandma Lee was a phenomenal cook; a seamstress who made all her clothes when she was a child; and a caretaker of the entire neighborhood. Both grandmothers and her Grandpa Blake were dynamic role models. “Grandpa Blake is responsible for making sure there was laughter in the home,” Mary said.