Gretsch 140th Anniversary
WOMEN WERE THE MAKING OF GRETSCH
“The contribution of women to the business is seldom mentioned, but incredibly integral. My mother was a cheerleader for the business from 1942 to ’64 and, certainly, one of the reasons that I was in the business. My grandmother Charlotte, if we go back to 1904, married into the Gretsch family. She passed away in 1928. Next week it’s the 95th anniversary of her passing – unbelievable. In any case, she was engaged with the business for 24 years and she had three sons who were future leaders in the business.
“Without my mother’s encouragement and if she hadn’t kept the family in New York when dad died in ’48 – she was from Missouri – I wouldn’t have had a chance to visit the factory at 60 Broadway with my grandfather, as a young lad, and first experience Gretsch instrument production there.
“As I said, dad died in ’48 and his older brother, Fred Jr – who was my mentor in the business and encouraged me to work – took the bus from Forest Hills in Queens down Metropolitan Avenue, to the factory there, in Brooklyn. The bus fare was 15¢ back when I first took it in the 50s,
