Meadow’s Musings: Meadow Martell

Last Sunday I had the delightful opportunity to see the last performance of the Grants Pass High School’s Theatre Department presentation of the musical play, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” This play told the true story of the turn of the century Molly Brown. The talented cast and crew of 45 students from Grants Pass High School were outstanding. I was totally impressed with the performance, the actors, the singing and how well the story was presented.
Margaret, aka Molly, Brown was a hero of the underdog, a philanthropist, entrepreneur, mother, champion of Women’s rights, fighter for labor rights, and an advocate of immigration reform. She was born in 1867 in a three-room cottage in Hannibal, Missouri. Her parents were Irish Catholic immigrants. She started her adult life in a Colorado mining town called Leadville. She became active in the mining community, helping miners and their families and working to improve the town schools.
As her nickname, the Unsinkable Molly Brown, indicates, she was also a survivor of the RMS Titanic which sank April 15, 1912. Of the 2,224 people on board, only 724 survived. She acquired her nickname because she helped in the ship’s evacuation, taking an oar herself in her lifeboat and unsuccessfully urged the lifeboat crew to go back and save more passengers. After being rescued Brown proceeded to organize a committee with other first-class survivors to secure basic necessities for the second and third class survivors and even provided informal counseling. Molly Brown’s legacy continues as a museum in her home in Denver, Colorado.
A hero is a person or a fictional character who fights adversity through ingenuity, courage, strengths, and achievements. They perform actions without any expectation of reward or external gain. Heroes aren’t always someone far removed. They can be someone in your family, neighborhood or community. Molly Brown is one of my heroes. Who are some of yours? I would love to hear their stories. We can always use more heroes in our life.