Vera Greene, L27, relishes memories of the RV life and FMCA.
By Skip Tate, Associate Editor
March 2021
The plaque is firmly attached to an iron railing that runs alongside the three steps that lead up to Vera Greene’s front door, right where everyone who passes by or stops in for a visit can see: Family Motor Coach Association – 27 – Charter Member.
“We were there at the beginning, when FMCA was started [in 1963],” Vera said. “We could have had a lower number — 3, 4, 5, 6 — but my husband, Hank, worked for Gorton’s of Gloucester, and his parking space was number 27. He wanted something easy to remember, so we took 27.”
For 30 years, Hank and Vera Greene, L27, attended rallies, singing “The FMCA Song.”
For nearly 30 years, the plaque rode on the three buses Hank and Vera converted, prominently displayed for everyone to see as they crisscrossed the country. After Hank died and Vera settled into an Escapees RV park in Wauchula, Florida, in 1992, she wanted to make sure it was displayed in an equally prominent place.
“We have some other FMCA members who live here,” she said. “I make sure I know who they are and they know me.”
Now 90 years old, Vera may well be the oldest living FMCA founding member. She and Hank, who served as president of the Northeast chapter in 1972, lived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, about an hour’s drive from the home of Bob Richter, L1, FMCA’s founder and first president, in Hanson, Massachusetts. They lived about two hours from Wolf Den State Park in Connecticut, site of the September 7, 1963, Constitution Committee meeting, which they attended.
In 1972, Hank (on the right) got Gorton’s Seafood to donate food for FMCA’s Burlington, Vermont, convention. Vera (in sunglasses) assisted.
“We had three buses, remodeled all of them ourselves,” she said. “We tore them all apart, started from scratch. We had a couple of GMC buses. That was like a palace to me. We drove one in a parade once. They said it was Gloucester’s first land yacht.”
In the winter, the couple would travel to Vermont so their kids could ski. In later years, they drove to Montana each summer to visit their daughter, detouring into Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon.
“One time we put it on the boat and went up into Newfoundland, Canada,” said Vera, in a still-thick New England accent. “And, of course, we would attend rallies. Every one of those rallies was wonderful. We hosted one. It was overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Gorton’s put on a fish fry. Scallops. If you don’t think that was a big party? Whew!”
Vera loved having fun at RV rallies, said Janet Gibson, her neighbor and fellow FMCA member. “She would be up there, hooting and hollering, dancing on the tables.”
Although still feisty, Vera’s slowed a bit in recent years. “She gave up driving a few years ago,” Janet said, “but she just got a golf cart and likes to zoom around the development.”
When it was suggested she behave herself, Vera scoffed at the idea.
“Why? I’ve got to be me.”