By William “Skip” Deegans
This story begins in 1890 when Mary Becker wed Capt. Gordon C. Greene and set up housekeeping on the Cincinnati riverboat, H. K. Bedford. The Greenes developed the Greene Line, and in its heyday it operated 12 riverboats on the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland and Mississippi rivers. In 1896, Mary Greene (shown in the photo) became the first women to gain a pilot’s license and took command of the Argand.
When interviewed by the Wheeling Intelligencer, Mary Greene was asked, “Are we to infer from you entering the ranks of pilots that you look with favor on the new woman idea?” She replied, “I don’t bother much about such stuff. I am contended to be just what I am, a woman, in the good old-fashioned way. I don’t think there is anything unwomanly or advanced in my being able to steer a boat, and I am contented to let the captain do the voting for the family.” (Women did not secure the right to vote until 1920)
Captain Gordon Greene died suddenly in 1927, leaving Mary and her three sons to operate the business. Her son, Captain Tom Greene, married Letha Cavendish in 1930.
While the Greenbrier County press claimed Miss Cavendish as a native daughter, she grew up on a Nicholas County farm, attended Marshall College (now University) and was a teacher in Nitro when she married. In 1946, Tom and Letha Greene purchased California’s Delta Queen riverboat for $46,250, saved her from being scrapped, and had her towed through the Panama Canal to New Orleans. Three years later, Mary died in her cabin aboard the Delta Queen. In 1950, Tom Greene died aboard the same boat from a heart attack, leaving Letha Greene and four children. Letha became President and General Manager of the Greene Line Steamers and died in 1985.
The Delta Queen is moored in Louisiana. It was damaged in Hurricane Ida, and efforts to restore her have been unsuccessful.
Photo from the University of Wisconsin Libraries.
Sources: National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium, Ohio County Library, Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, New York Time, The West Virginia News.
