Love and birthday wishes will be flowing along an east Montgomery street Saturday.
Between 11 a.m. and noon, people are invited to drive by and give shout outs at the home of Ethel Green, a longtime artist and mental health advocate, who is celebrating her 85th birthday.
Green, who lives at 437 Mulligan Drive, said she’s excited to see everyone. Like many, she’s been in isolation during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’d just like to tell everyone thank you,” Green said. “I think this is exciting. People are so kind.”
There’s a reason for many to be grateful to Green. She’s a volunteer leader who helps people across the southeast with mental health issues. Green is both the oldest board member of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Alabama and the oldest president of NAMI Montgomery.
“Ethel Green is a remarkable lady who is an inspiration to everyone around her,” said Wanda Laird, the retired executive director of NAMI Alabama.
Green has already received a special birthday card in the mail, a certificate of recognition from Gov. Kay Ivey.
Before the virus hit, her family had planned a big party this month, like they did five years ago for her 80th birthday. It was a catered event at the Shriner’s Club, with a band and a bar.
“That was just a fun thing. We all had a great time,” Green said. “I can’t do that now, because of the COVID-19.”
Keeping isolated has been a necessity, and not just because of Green’s age. She also has seven stints in her heart.
“I have two daughters (Frankie Ann and Abby Lynn) that are on my back all the time,” Green said. “Don’t go out. Don’t visit with people. Stay home! I realize that if I get sick, they’ll have a problem, so I try to behave and do whatever I can.”
Her morning birthday parade won’t be her only excitement Saturday. The neighborhood is having another street parade in the afternoon for a graduate from Lee High School.
“That’s going to be fun,” Green said. “This is going to be a busy street on Saturday.”
Work with NAMI
Green said it’s been a really rewarding experience to be involved with NAMI on different levels since 2004.
“We have about 200 members in NAMI Montgomery, and they cover southeast Alabama,” Green said.
Awareness and diagnosis of mental illness is becoming more common. Along with research, treatment and medication, Green said people with mental illness need assistance and empathy. They often don’t know where to turn.
“We don’t have enough help at the ground level for everybody,” Green said. “One in every five people, they say, has a serious mental illness.”
Both the coronavirus and the isolation restrictions from it have raised mental health concerns on a global level. Green said it’s like nothing from her lifetime, though a pandemic from her youth came close.
“I can remember as a child, we all had to have smallpox shots in our left arm,” Green said. “You had to have that scar on your arm so that the world would know that you had been vaccinated.”
She said COVID-19 is scary, and has everyone on edge - whether or not they’ve become infected. It’s raised a lot of alarms in the mental health community, she said.
“We’re very frightened about how the world is going to react long term about this thing,” Green said.
For more information, visit namimontgomery.org.
Keeping active
One talent she’s been pouring her time into is painting, something that’s been a bit more than a regular hobby for decades.
She describes herself as a decorative artist.
“I have won many prizes for my paintings, including several Best of Fair honors at the Alabama National Fair,” Green said.
In 2004, one of her painted Christmas tree ornaments was selected for the White House Christmas tree.
"President Bush and I are grateful for your gift of time and artistic talent in creating an ornament for the tree," first lady Laura Bush wrote to Green.
Recently, she’s been painting on wine bottles, gourds and turkey feathers, and sharing images of her work online.
“I have a lot of painting projects that I have put aside too long, and so I’ve been working on those,” Green said.
Green’s life
- She was born June 6, 1935 in Montgomery to the late Annie Lois and Thomas Whitten Whitby, and had four brothers.
- She married Frank Rogers Green in 1955, and traveled the world before settling back in Montgomery in 1970.
- She worked for the U.S. Air Force and the USDA Forest Service and retired in 1989.
- She worked for the State of Alabama Medicaid and retired from there in 2004 to stay home with her husband, who was ill.
- After her husband’s death in 2004, she began working with NAMI Alabama until December, 2018.
- Since December, 2018, she has served as president of NAMI Montgomery.
- She also serves on the NAMI Alabama Board as Chair of the ByLaws Committee.
- She has two daughters. Frankie Ann works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife in Washington D.C. , and Abby Lynn who lives in Mobile.
- She’s an active volunteer in her community.
- She serves as chairperson of the supervisory committee for Fedmont Federal Credit Union and vice president of the Montgomery East Neighborhood Association.
- She’s an artist, and a member of the Society of Decorative Painters.
- She also serves as a judge at the Alabama Gourd Festival in Cullman, where she’s also previously won many honors and ribbons.
Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.
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