Mary A Greenwade (1895 - 1990)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Mary's lifetime.

In 1895, in the year that Mary A Greenwade was born, on March 15th, in County Tipperary, Ireland, Michael Cleary killed his wife of 8 years, Bridget, and burned her body. His defense was that his "wife" was a changeling that was left in his real wife's place when she was abducted by fairies. He was nonetheless convicted and imprisoned for manslaughter. He spent 15 years in prison.

In 1921, when she was 26 years old, hugely popular Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, silent film star, was arrested for rape and manslaughter after an actress died following a party at his house. He was acquitted after three trials and the jury wrote a formal letter apologizing for the charges, but his career never recovered. His films were at first banned - the ban was lifted after a year - and he was mostly ostracized by the community. He died at 46..

In 1974, at the age of 79 years old, Mary was alive when on August 9th, Gerald R. Ford became the 38th President of the United States. He had been Vice President for 8 months when he became President due to the resignation of President Nixon.

In 1989, when she was 94 years old, on November 9th, the Berlin Wall fell. The Wall was built by the East Germans to keep East Berliners from escaping into West Berlin, separating families and friends. When the head of the East German Communist Party announced that day that East Berliners could cross whenever they pleased, happy crowds surged across the border. People brought tools and took parts of the hated wall.

In 1990, in the year of Mary A Greenwade's passing, after 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela, the leader of the movement to end South African apartheid was released on February 11th 1990.