On June 18, 1941, the course of Helen Hinkson Green’s life dramatically changed when her husband (and love of her life) died and left her as the solo parent to raised their twin daughters. The girls, Jennifer and Penelope, were only thirteen months old and not even out of diapers, at the time. Overnight, Helen became a single mother, who was determined to give her daughters the best, even if she had to reinvent herself and do it alone.
It Takes a Pair, is her memoir of raising her daughters in the 1940s. She wrote it in 1983-84, during the first years of her retirement from Michigan State University, where after successfully reinventing herself as Dr. Green PhD, she served as a business professor for twenty-seven years.
As her granddaughter (and namesake), I have decided to honor her by publishing her delightful memoir posthumously, one-chapter-at-a-time (starting January 2026).
When she penned the memoir, she dedicated it to both her daughters “Penny and Jenny, for without whom this hook would never have been written, - and - to single parents everywhere.” Here is a glimpse at the original manuscript:
»> Start reading the memoir with It Takes a Pair: Forward
This substack site has been setup to support the publication of my grandmother’s, Helen Hinkson Green (1907-2003), memoir. You can find my other family research and ancestor stories over at Letters from LaBelle.
