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The Pinecone
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August 2016
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August – a time to admire Nature’s handiwork in the riotous
color schemes seen in flower and vegetable gardens; sunny
days for outdoors activities and vacations; and opportunity for
personal quiet times to read, or nap in the hammock. For the
August PineCone we focus on Marsha Greiner, a colleague and
friend, and resident of the Kirby Pines Retirement Community.
She exemplifies the saying ‘by their works we shall know them’.
Talented and college educated, Marsha is self-effacing, dedicated
to reaching out to newcomers and familiar faces, quietly offering
encouragement and friendship. She manifests her gardening
skills with annual crops of colorful zinnias and small beds of
brown cotton. Gardening is “in her DNA” from her Dad. This is
her story.
Marsha and her sister were born in Moline, Illinois. Her Mother
was a homemaker, quite talented in sewing and quilting. Her Dad
was a management-level member of International Harvester; he
also was a Past Master Mason. He and his family were members
of the United Methodist Church. Marsha recalls him as a man of
integrity; his behavior guiding his children on how to conduct
themselves in their public and private endeavors. He always had
a garden, setting aside hours for tending to flowers and produce
– these hours “fed his soul”. The U. of Iowa awarded Marsha a
BA Degree in Education and a Minor in Library Science; for 11
years, she taught in elementary schools and served as a Children’s
Librarian. She married Herbert Greiner – telling us that he and
she were “fated” - made for
each other - citing the fact
that their hospital nursery
cribs were side-by-side, and
their school lockers were
side-by-side; she invited
Herbert to be her date at
the first school dance. One
could say that their getting
married was anticlimactic,
an “of course”, in a sense.
Married for 45 years, they
have a daughter and a
grandson. Herbert passed
away in 2007.
“Mitzvah” is defined as a
good or worthy deed. It’s an appropriate recognition of Marsha’s
efforts to make a difference in the quality of life of friends and
strangers alike. Volunteering gives her a way to “sow seeds of
kindness”. For example, she is a member of the Kirby Pines
(KP) Library Committee; a past member of the KP Advisory
Committee; helps the KP Marketing Department by giving tours
to new residents; takes her turn behind the cash register in the
KP Blossom Shop; and is a member of Team Read at the Shelby
County Belle Forest School. Hours devoted to planting and
“fussing over” her special flower, zinnias – satisfies her love for
gardening in the process of caring for what she sowed.
Not one to ‘just sit”, Marsha looks for opportunities to reach out to
others – in Kirby Pines and in the broader world outside our doors.
Sowing seeds for zinnias; sowing seeds of kindness.
- Jacqueline Besteman, Resident
Marsha tends to the Kirby Pines tomato garden
Marsha
Greiner
SOW I NG S E E D S O F K I N D N E S S