A Riveting Ride from Mountain Girl to the Peaks of Success in Business and Life

In her absorbing memoir, “Mountain Girl: From Barefoot to Boardroom,” Marilyn Moss Rockefeller offers a compelling testament to the power of resilience and reinvention.  The book, which came out in late 2022, tells a story of a series of unexpected events that transformed her from a pigtailed girl in the mountains of West Virginia to the head of a multimillion-dollar manufacturing company in Maine.

Marilyn overcame one challenge after another by relying on her own values as well as the "can-do" mentality instilled by her father, who passed away unexpectedly when she was young.

On her way to business success, she had two children and became an accomplished weaver. She also learned the secret to baking baguettes from none other than Julia Child; became an advocate for those bearing the brunt of domestic violence and discrimination; and, from her very first flying lesson, discovered within her a passion for piloting a plane.

"Mountain Girl" is Marilyn's second book. She also wrote “Bill Moss: Fabric Artist & Designer,” which is about her first husband and the business he created that she ultimately took over with no experience running a company. She turned it around from a money-loser to a multimillion-dollar enterprise recognized as a role model in Maine as a successful, socially responsible business.

You can purchase a copy of "Mountain Girl" directly from the publisher, Islandport Press in Yarmouth, Maine.  It's also available on Amazon, Kindle and from your local bookstore.

Hope you enjoy Marilyn's inspiring story. Please share this episode with others who believe in rising to a challenge while learning, growing and living by one's values.

This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to The Gale Hill Radio Hour!

The show is available in Apple and Google Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast directories. Also on Substack and YouTube; Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Chapters

• 0:08 A Mountain Girl's Challenges
• 9:24 From Farm Life to City Living
• 13:01 Discrimination and Activism
• 21:28 Andy Warhol and Julia Child
• 26:17 Taking Care of Business in Maine
• 30:15 Leading with Respect and Trust
• 36:33 Flight, a Big "Oops" and Love
• 49:11 MarilynRae's Lessons Learned

Transcript

[00:00:09.050] - Kate

Hello, and welcome The Gale Hill Radio Hour. I'm your host Kate Jones, here with Marilyn Moss Rockefeller, author, pilot, and passionate advocate for victims of domestic violence. Oh, and she makes amazing baguettes, a skill she learned in person from Julia Child. Marilyn, welcome to the show!

[00:00:34.330] - Marilyn

Thank you very much, Kate. I'm really delighted.

[00:00:37.570] - Kate

You have led quite a life, and we get to learn about it in your second book, "Mountain Girl: From Barefoot to Boardroom," which came out in late 2022. It's an engaging memoir filled with stories and lessons learned. So I'd like to know, Marilyn, when asked, how do you sum up your book?

[00:01:00.530] - Marilyn

Well, it's certainly a story of unexpected events, though I guess most of our lives are that way. But had you said to me or asked me anything about running a business when I was in the mountains of West Virginia, barefoot and climbing trees, that I would be running a business one day with 164 employees, I would have said, oh, my goodness, are you kidding? I have no desire to run a business and I want to be a doctor. The story is about all those things that led up to my running a business — a manufacturing business with 164 employees, and it became a very successful business. So I just tried to share in this memoir the stories that I think contributed to me being who I turned out to be and being able to do that. And I don't know, I guess I just hope it resonates with other young women or women just starting out to maybe do something that they've never done before.

[00:02:25.410] - Kate

That's terrific. I want to mention your first book, "Bill Moss: Fabric Artist and Designer," which is about your first husband and the business he created that you ultimately took over. I really like what you said about writing that book, which was published in 2013. Doing so, you said, allowed you to let go of all the anger you had toward Bill. What would you like to say about that release of anger? Was it therapeutic?

[00:02:58.410] - Marilyn

Oh, absolutely. I guess I was carrying that anger around. He died before I did this book and we were divorced way before that. But I had been carrying so much anger towards him that once I started the book and had to deal with all those stories of his not only infidelity, but his lack of business ethic, which I think even hurt me more. And of course, he was a terrible father. And so there were so many mixed feelings here. I was paying this great tribute to this man by writing this book when, in fact, I didn't really like him. He wasn't a very nice person, but in doing it realized that I could let go of that anger now. Okay, it's done. I did my tribute. I gave all his work and his genius as much of a tribute as I possibly could, and I did that with care and with caring. 

[00:04:19.090] - Kate

And you gave a great gift to him and you received one in return. And that is the way that goes, isn't it?

[00:04:25.860] - Marilyn

Yes, I was very fortunate.

[00:04:28.110] - Kate

That's terrific. And I'm glad you decided when you were asked to do the book, you didn't want to do it, but you decided to go ahead.

[00:04:36.890] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:04:37.930] - Kate

That's great.

[00:04:39.450] - Marilyn

I made it for the man who used to work for us. And he was the one who pushed me to do the book because someone else had talked about trying to write a story about Bill Moss. And he said, Marilyn, of all people, you have to be the one to do this. And that sort of made me have to put all my other things aside for two years.

[00:05:18.470] - Kate

Which was a good thing to do, it turns out.

[00:05:22.230] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:05:22.820] - Kate

So on to your second book. So being a mountain girl gave you a strong foundation. You ended up a success in business and in your personal life by living by your values. Would you share a few stories starting when you were little and your dad teaching you how to shoot? I think you were only six, right, when he taught you how to shoot a gun?

[00:05:50.750] - Marilyn

Yes, that's right. It was only a .22, if you know what that is. I mean, it's a pretty lightweight gun.

[00:05:57.740] - Kate

Still.

[00:06:00.930] - Marilyn

But at the age of six, it was so hard for me to even try to hold the barrel up, and he just stood there with me, insisting that I could do it. And that was what he instilled in me. You can do anything, Marilyn, that you really want to. You just have to have that tenacity and you have to just say, I can do it. I can do it. He was a Seabee (CB) in the Navy, and that was their motto, we can do it. And they were the unit that went ahead of the Marines to build roads and to build an airport and to face the enemy right at the very beginning. So they fought and they worked, and he just said, well, first off, he had wanted a boy. And when I was born, that was a huge disappointment. Oh, my God, a girl?

[00:07:04.390] - Kate

What do I do with her, right?

[00:07:05.820] - Marilyn

Exactly. And I think that he just decided, oh, I'll just do the same thing I was going to do with a son. And he just led me to believe there wasn't anything boys could do that I couldn't do. And so that was easy. I climbed trees higher than they did. I could ride a bike. You learned before they did. I can teach them how to ride a bike. And this kind of thing, he just put that in my head, that you can just do it. Just do it. 

[00:07:41.720] - Kate

That's absolutely wonderful. And I loved how you described that day when he was teaching you, and you just kept trying and trying and trying to shoot the can off. I don't remember if it was a rock or whatever it was on. And then you did it, and then you kept doing it.

[00:07:59.450] - Marilyn

Exactly. I think it shocked me more than it did anybody else. But the other thing of the values that I feel are so instilled in me came from my grandparents, who raised me from the age of two or three months until I was nine years old. And it was at the very tail end of the Depression when I was born. And in the mountains, of course, the Depression lingered a little longer, and so there was a great deal of poverty. And the farm that my grandparents had just was always full of wonderful food. We had a big garden and we had animals. So I never even knew that we were poor, that we didn't have a lot of other families might have in other parts of the United States. And it was shocking to me when I later grew old enough to really understand that. But my grandparents were just full of love and warmth and their values of sharing, which they always did with people that didn't have food. They would share and they cared for people and they respected everyone. And all of that just really stuck with me in the first nine years, I guess those are formative years.

[00:09:36.780] - Marilyn

And so I was fortunate, very fortunate.

[00:09:39.870] - Kate

Yes. And then after your father's early passing, he was quite young, you ended up living with your mom in the city, so you went from the farm in West Virginia to I don't recall what city it was, but it was a city. And it was really hard for you, wasn't it?

[00:10:01.110] - Marilyn

Yes, it was in Maryland. And as my grandfather said, don't you become one of those darn Yankees as I was leaving, and of course, I was a hillbilly, and I spoke like one, the hill talk. And I was barefoot, at least all the summers and climbed trees and had braided hair and pigtails. And I'd love to wear pants, not skirts, and dresses, which my grandmother would put on me if there was going to be a photograph taken. And when I moved up with my mother, her first thing was to say, well, we've got to really turn you into a young lady. And first thing, off come the braids. And she cut those off and took me and had a perm done at a salon and teaching me how to speak with vowels instead of how now brown cow. I had to learn how to say, how now brown cow and walk with a dictionary on my head and wear nice silly dresses, et cetera, et cetera. So it was a huge change.

[00:11:18.890] - Kate

Sure. And you wanted to please your mom and you wanted to fit in, so you really felt as if you'd left MarilynRae, which is what you were called on the farm, MarilynRae. Right?

[00:11:32.260] - Marilyn

Yes, that's right. Because my father wanted a boy and he was going to call him Ray, right? Correct.

[00:11:37.890] - Kate

So this was Ray with an E at the end.

[00:11:41.840] - Marilyn

My mother did that.

[00:11:43.030] - Kate

And so you really felt as if you'd left MarilynRae behind?

[00:11:48.050] - Marilyn

Yeah, it was pretty devastating, actually. And I think basically I did I probably just put her in a closet somewhere and closed the door and was not going to be MarilynRae anymore. My mother wanted me to drop the Rae. She said it's too Southern sounding with two words, MarilynRae. She said you're just Marilyn. And she moved a lot because she kept getting better positions in the field of education. And I didn't attend a school ever one full year until my high school. I was in and out of grade schools all over Maryland and the state of Connecticut. And each time I'd go into these different schools in different areas where, of course, different ethnic groups live, I would want to fit in. So I would, as I described, become sort of a chameleon. I would like the things they liked. I would do the things they did. I would speak like they did. I would want to eat the food they did. And it helped. I could fit in.

[00:13:04.330] - Kate

How about that? But you were always fitting yourself into things, situations and everything, and you were really doing a lot of people pleasing.

[00:13:17.230] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:13:18.350] - Kate

So you went to college, you went to a small college, and that began to crack open that facade you had created for yourself. You were acting still in college. You were acting, but it began to change. So would you talk about that, especially the pivotal moment at the sorority at the small college?

[00:13:44.470] - Marilyn

Yeah, I didn't even know what a sorority was when I went, of course, I was sought after and I guess because I was a good student and I was good in sports and probably because I was trying to be like all the other young women that were there. And one Black student was enrolled, a woman, well, young girl at that time, my age, a year younger. And we became good friends on the campus. And so come my sophomore year, when the sororities would bring in new what they called pledges or new membership, we who were the members would come one night and nominate someone. And of course, they had to meet the criteria of being an excellent student, really good grades, active in other activities other than just academics, and fit in. And it just never occurred to me that she wouldn't be accepted. So that night I nominated her and there was absolute silence in the room, and I knew something was wrong, but I didn't quite get it. And then finally the president of the sorority said, Marilyn, we can't do that. Well, why not? Because the sorority can't accept any Black students or any Black women.

[00:15:33.690] - Marilyn

And I just was floored. I couldn't believe it. I said, well, what do you mean? She has all the qualifications. She's attractive, she's smart, she has top grades, she's also in good sport activities. What is wrong? And they said, we just can't do it. So I said, well, then I guess I can't. And I took off the pin, which was a quill, it was Alpha Xi Delta, a beautiful pin with pearls and a quill, and I unpinned it from my sweater and just threw it on the floor and walked out.

[00:16:10.760] - Kate

Wow.

[00:16:11.240] - Marilyn

And the next day I was called into the president's office of the college, and he said, Marilyn, I have called your parents, and they're going to come to get you this afternoon, and you need to pack up and you need to go home for a while. And what he had told them was that I had had a nervous breakdown.

[00:16:34.740] - Kate

Oh, my goodness. What year was this, Marilyn?

[00:16:41.810] - Marilyn

Let me think. '57, 58, 1958.

[00:16:46.260] - Kate

Okay.

[00:16:46.720] - Marilyn

Isn't that incredible?

[00:16:47.870] - Kate

Yes.

[00:16:51.650] - Marilyn

I was just stunned by it. And of course, I had come from the South, but I had been brought up to respect — it didn't matter what color people were. My family said you respect a human being, period.

[00:17:06.560] - Kate

Good for your family. Geez.

[00:17:08.010] - Marilyn

I know. I was definitely fortunate.

[00:17:14.970] - Kate

They brought you up right. Wow. So anyway, what did your mom have to say about all that?

[00:17:22.430] - Marilyn

Well, she was remarried, my stepfather, and they didn't talk much about it. They understood what I was doing, but they were a little disappointed in me for sure that I had been kicked out of school, even though the president said, you go home and re-enroll next semester.

[00:17:49.210] - Kate

Recover from the nervous breakdown.

[00:17:51.680] - Marilyn

You'll recover from this. And I said, no way am I going back to that college. And so I transferred over to the University of Michigan, which of course, was diverse, and that made me feel much more comfortable.

[00:18:07.860] - Kate

Yes. And you also began listening to the quiet voice within you.

[00:18:14.030] - Marilyn

That's right. I started to realize that there are a lot of things that came intuitively to me that concerned me. Different social issues and equality issues and obviously the Vietnam War. Consciously, I just couldn't support that war. So I became an activist. And as a result of that, my grades went down because I went to a lot of meetings and certainly was in with a different crowd. But I started realizing, wait a minute, this is me. I'm not trying to be someone else. But you still have that wanting to be liked and wanting to fit in somewhere, someplace.

[00:19:13.250] - Kate

Right. Well, in your last year at the U of M, you took a job as a part-time receptionist and bookkeeper at the design firm William Moss Associates, founded by Bill Moss. And he invented the pop tent, which revolutionized the camping industry. And I loved what you said. His place buzzed with creativity, and you learned about art and its connection to everyday life at the height of Ann Arbor's arts explosion. And so what transpired after that? Because you got pretty close, you and Bill. 

[00:19:53.710] - Marilyn

Yes, yes. We ended up seeing one another and became lovers, and then we got married, and he was just about twice my age, and I know now, and once I started writing my memoir, that it wasn't real love. What it was was a young girl being enamored and enchanted with this sophisticated world I was being exposed to that I had not been exposed to before. And I just found him worldly and knew all interesting people, and he attracted interesting people. And Ann Arbor, of course, at that time, too, it was just a very avant-garde kind of movements in all the arts and music and art and literature and poets, composers and interesting people came to town from New York City. That was where it was happening at the time. So I was fortunate or unfortunate, whatever it is, to be a part of that, which I did feel that creativity, and I still do, and I love to be with all of that now. And that became a part of me. With Bill Moss, as I said before, his infidelities and his way of unethically doing business just really didn't suit me at all.

[00:21:39.090] - Kate

Right, but you played the part of his wife.

[00:21:42.320] - Marilyn

I played the part.

[00:21:45.010] - Kate

Among the notable events in this part of your life, your son Jeff was born. You appeared nude in an art film. You were arrested at a Vietnam protest at the University of Michigan while pregnant with your daughter Genevieve. You had quite the thing. And I remember something about Andy Warhol coming to town, and he stayed at yours and Bill's house, and they were as self centered as your former husband, that group that he was with.

[00:22:22.670] - Marilyn

Yes. It was really a riot. There were ten or twelve of them falling out of this psychedelically painted VW bus, and everyone had a different color hair, and they just weren't communicative at all. And I made breakfast and dinners and things for them. No one offered to help clean up the dishes or anything. And trying to talk to Andy Warhol, who was like trying to talk to the wall, he just was non-responsive. It was interesting.

[00:23:02.890] - Kate

Yes. Also during this time is when you took a class with Julia Child in her cozy kitchen on Irving Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What an incredible thing to do.

[00:23:19.310] - Marilyn

Well, it was so wonderful because I loved French bread. And in this period of time with Bill, we ended up going to France. That's a whole another story, as photographers and shooting the Ford racing team at the Le Mans. I wanted to learn to make baguette bread. And I had a very good friend who was a superb cook and was my mentor in exposing me to some really good cooking. And I asked her if she would show me how to make it, and she said, "Oh, get a Julia Child cookbook. She's a friend of mine. And I learned it from her. And you can learn it there." Well, I got the Julia Child cookbook, and the recipe was 19 pages long for the baguettes. And I thought oh, my word. So anyway, I attempted and it still didn't taste like Pat Corton's, and it was not like in France. And I said, there must be something I'm doing wrong. She said, well, why don't you go and take lessons from Julia Child? I told her, yeah, how could I do that? So she picked up the phone and called Julia Child, who was a friend of hers, and managed to get me in there.

[00:24:45.850] - Marilyn

And so I drove from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Cambridge and attended like, a four-day, I think, four-day lesson workshop. And there were four other women and myself, I believe four or five. And we learned how. And the secret wasn't in what the ingredients were.

[00:25:13.960] - Kate

Don't tell. People are going to have to read the book to learn Julia's secret to great baguettes. I just wanted to bring up that because what an extraordinary gift that your friend gave you. And the fact that Julia Child was really so great, wasn't she? She was just so friendly to you. 

[00:25:40.160] - Marilyn

Oh, she was a riot. And she served us wine the whole time. Plus she drank wine all the time. That chapter is called "Will Someone Find My Poulet?" And she went to whack a chicken in half with her big huge knife, chef's knife, and the chicken flew across the room and she just had another sip of wine and asked one of the women to pick it up and put it back and on we went.

[00:26:09.910] - Kate

And no need to clean it, right, because the floor was clean.

[00:26:14.680] - Marilyn

Right.

[00:26:15.530] - Kate

No need to wash it off.

[00:26:17.230] - Marilyn

That's right. Exactly.

[00:26:19.130] - Kate

It would get cooked anyway. Throw some wine on it.

[00:26:24.650] - Marilyn

Yeah, I know. No, it was a wonderful experience. 

[00:26:29.940] - Kate

I bet. Just truly memorable. So anyway, onto the next chapter of your life. You and your family moved to Maine, where you chopped wood, spun wool, did what was in front of you, including taking over the business in an attempt to turn the company around. Please talk about this turning point in your life as you described it in your book.

[00:26:54.870] - Marilyn

Yes, well, I had been helping Bill with bookkeeping and even doing some of the illustrations and some of the photography work in his company. It was a design company. And when we moved to Maine, he decided that he wanted to start manufacturing the products instead of just designing and licensing them to all these other companies to make them and market them. He said, I'd like to keep the design the way I designed it and the integrity and the product, which sounded great. And I said, well, by that time, I was weaving, and I had taken a class with Peter Collingwood, who was an English rug weaver, and I had my Cranbrook eight-harness loom. So I was making rugs with very intricate designs on commission. So I was enjoying it and raising the two children. And I had sheep on the farm and a big, huge garden. And I loved my life. And I told him I didn't want any part to do with the company. I didn't want any part in it. And he got my stepfather to invest $20,000, along with another man, $20,000, to sort of start buying used sewing machines and equipment and set up the company with a friend of his.

[00:28:40.580] - Marilyn

And the money was gone within a few weeks, and they had no more money. And my father had lost some of his savings, my stepfather, and he said, "Marilyn, you get in there and turn this company around, because I've got to have my investment back. Your mother and I are retired, and I can't afford to lose that money." So I had to step forward and go and run a manufacturing business, of which I knew absolutely nothing about manufacturing and very little about business. So I just rolled up my sleeves, and as my real father had said, you can do it. You just have to do it. And the whole thing was, well, I might have to pretend sometimes and to get by with learning and this whole thing of "fake it until you make it," I turned it into "fake it until you learn how to do it." And if you can, and I was successful at that, it does work. It doesn't mean I didn't make a lot of mistakes, and I did a lot of trial and error, but of learning. But I also took risks, and I used my intuition on how to do things.

[00:30:15.780] - Marilyn

And I think women, when they have to take over something or they have to do something, it's amazing the strengths that we can pull from down deep. And as my father said, do it.

[00:30:32.170] - Kate

Right. And you, again, relied on your values. You treated the employees very well. You had an open-door policy. You allowed employees to be, quote unquote, seen for who they were. You gave them loans when needed. You helped workers who were struggling with domestic violence. It's really incredible what you did. You went in there and you were human. Instead of putting a shield around yourself because you didn't know what you were doing, instead, you reached out to them.

[00:31:10.230] - Marilyn

Yeah. I never called myself a manager. I said, I'm a leader. And what I tried to do was to listen, to really listen well and listen to the employees and trust them. Trust an employee, and in turn, they will trust you. And in doing this, I created a very loyal workforce, and that's how we became successful. But I really did believe that each individual possessed worth and dignity and we had no tolerance for intolerance. And we all agreed on that, and we just worked at using those values that I had and, as it turns out, most people have them. Given the chance they want to care and they want to be proud of their product and what they do. They want to be treated with respect and caring and given an opportunity and a chance to be as big as air and as successful as they can. It was a good learning thing for all of us. And as a result, as I said, I had a very loyal workforce and absenteeism went down and people were rushing to apply because word got around town that employees were treated very well. And we worked together and I was an open-door policy, and I particularly paid attention to domestic violence because most of my employees were women.

[00:33:02.040] - Marilyn

And I think also women leaders, if given the chance, we have probably more a leadership ability with empathy. And I think empathy is so important. So when I would notice that one of my employees, black eye or bruised arm, I would inquire and I would care, and I would introduce the organization New Hope for Women. And I'd also get them into safe places, safe haven places, and pay for a motel, if anything, to get them away from an abusive situation. That really resonates with the employees. And they take that back to their family and their community. And it just to me is a way of growing and making real social change.

[00:34:12.370] - Kate

Yes, that's great. And then the company started to go into different directions and was able to find increased success because there was a lot of competition in camping.

[00:34:31.830] - Marilyn

The tent.

[00:34:33.590] - Kate

Yes. And so the company became Moss Incorporated and moved into the trade show exhibit market, which I thought was fascinating. That was a really good idea somebody had.

[00:34:50.590] - Marilyn

Well, it was actually me, because when I was selling the tents, I was the one-man band show of not only being the leader of the company and the financial officer, but also the marketing person. And I would go out and try to go to these trade shows to pick up businesses, pick up the retailers who carried these high-end camping tents, North Face and Sierra Designs and names that I'm sure you've heard of. And my booth, my exhibit area, we made — well, actually, Bill made it. He designed it and made it for me, which was out of fabric, using the fabric of our tents and using the technology of tension fabric technology and the poles and everything. So I could just fold it all up, put it in a little bag and zip it up and carry it out or carry it in. And at one point, I was across the street, across the aisle from JanSport and the guys there, they were all men, had these huge crates, and they had several six packs sitting around on them. This was before the show opened, and they had these hammers and different pieces of equipment to open the crates and hadn't even gotten started.

[00:36:26.540] - Marilyn

And I had my bag unzipped and the display all up probably within 20 minutes, 30 minutes. And one guy came over and he said, "Marilyn, this is really extraordinary. I think you really should get and make exhibits for everybody." And that was one of their beginnings.

[00:36:46.680] - Kate

That is so terrific. So at some point along this time period, James Rockefeller Jr., who was on the company's board of directors, entered your life on a bit more personal level. He suggested you take flying lessons using his Piper Super Cub.

[00:37:09.850] - Marilyn

Correct.

[00:37:10.640] - Kate

Please describe the day when you went to take your, I don't know, licensing test or whatever it was, and it was a red- letter day for you.

[00:37:23.150] - Marilyn

Well, the way it started, I had a directors meeting, and this is before I got much into the exhibits and we were losing money, just fistfuls. In fact, I think the bottom line had a $500,000 loss.

[00:37:38.150] - Kate

Oh my goodness.

[00:37:39.570] - Marilyn

So the stress I was obviously showing in my face with the directors meeting and in my voice, and when I gave the report of the financials, we were all grimacing. And I got a phone call from him later, and he said, you know, Marilyn, you look so stressed out and trying to run the company, and Bill Moss had left by this time, and you're trying to run the company, and you're raising your two young children. He said, I think you need a diversion. And I said, well, what do you think, I should take up knitting? Oh, no, he said, I didn't think you'd ever want to do that. But he said two things that would really get you probably distracted, and one is that you take flying lessons or you have an affair. And I laughed. An affair? In this small town? I'd never have an affair in a small town like this. And plus, I don't know who I'd have it with. So I chose the flying lessons. I thought about it later, and I had visions of myself in this open cockpit with a white scarf trailing behind me like Amelia Earhart, and I liked that.

[00:39:00.180] - Marilyn

And so I showed up and I took flying lessons. And it was up at his house, which is where I live now. And the runway goes down a hill and over a pond and then up between two mountains and hills. So it's not exactly the ideal place to learn to fly, but I had a good instructor that I hired, and I took out insurance on Mr. Rockefeller's plane. I got a call. It was a few days before I was to go over to Augusta, fly to the fAA and have my test and get my license. And I loved it, by the way. It really worked to be up there flying alone in that plane. I didn't think about anything. I didn't think about the kids, having to pick them up after school or whatever, or get them to swim team class or I didn't think about the bills that I owed. I didn't think about the loss on the bottom line, I just enjoyed myself. But this day, I was getting ready to go to the bank and get another loan yet to try to meet payroll for the week.

[00:40:22.260] - Marilyn

And I got a call from my instructor and he said, Marilyn, get into the plane and go practice some takeoffs and landings, called TNOs. And I said, I can't Manning, I'm sorry, I've got so much going on today and I've got to get the purchase orders ready and get those over to the bank and get a loan and make out payroll. And he said, Well, Marilyn, if you're not going to take this seriously and then gave me a little lecture and I said, oh, all right. So I relented and I came up to Mr. Rockefeller's place where his plane was, and it's a tail dragger, so it means that the tail sits down. It's a fabric airplane and you can't really see over the top of the plane unless you're flying. When it's on the ground, you have to look sideways or turn the plane sideways to be able to see. Anyway, I took off and I had a beautiful takeoff and I went to the local airport and there wasn't another plane in sight. I had the sky to myself and I got in formation and I announced everything where I was turning. And I landed on the grass strip just to the side of the asphalt where these small planes needed to land.

[00:41:52.880] - Marilyn

And I must have used — I was probably just distracted for a second or two. But those seconds that you're distracted can be disastrous, especially when you're flying a plane. Or anything dangerous. And I put, I guess, too much right rudder and that means my foot was leaning a little bit too much on the pedal that turns the nose to the right because I was going left and right trying to see over the nose. And I got into the tall grass and then when I quickly tried to correct, over correct, it torqued. The plane torqued and I went up on its nose and came down and there wasn't any sound except like if you had a cotton blouse on and it was tucked in and a little tight and you raised your arm and you heard the seam rip. That was about it. And so I thought, oh, thank goodness, I haven't wrecked the plane. So I'm sitting there getting my log book out and a car comes screaming across the runway and it's the old mechanic who is also a character, a real Maine character, but one of the best mechanics for aviation. And he opened the door and he said, Marilyn, you okay?

[00:43:23.090] - Marilyn

And I said, yeah, George, I'm okay. And he looked at me strangely, and I said, thank goodness I haven't damaged Jim's plane very much. And he looked at me funny, and he looked by me over to my left, and I followed his eyes there. And there was a whole big limb of a tree coming up through the plane, which took out all the instruments there and went up to the top. And it left splinters in my skin all the way on my left side. And George said, Jesus, Marilyn, if you had been another eighth inch, quarter inch, forget what it said over to the left, you could have been a Popsicle. It's at that point, my knees were shaking like mad. I got out, the plane was absolutely destroyed. Propeller was bent completely, broken. The wings were broken, and that was a mess. So he offered to get me in his car and take me back to Mr. Rockefeller's farm, and he would probably be waiting for me there. And it was starting to get a little near dusk, and of course, there aren't any lights on this field, so I was anxious to get there and tell him the story and he wouldn't be worried.

[00:44:55.880] - Marilyn

The car that George had, he's never had a new car. He puts together and builds from pieces of cars on the dump. So it's like a patchwork of different colors, different doors, but also the motor from something else. And it's bizarre. So I get in. It did have a seatbelt, which I was grateful for. And we started driving. On the way, there are two big hills to come up to where Jim lived. And we started to go up the hill, and his car sort of was choking and coughing and had to switch gears and to get it to chug along and get up. And a woman came around the curve and slammed into the back of us. So we got out of the car and my head hit the windshield. My chair completely broke loose, the seat. And I got out and I said, oh, my God, I've been in a plane crash and a car crash, both of which I've never had in my life. And I've had them in a period of one hour. We were laughing about it. And then he goes to the driver, the woman of the car, and she has a broken hand because she, I guess, pushed up against the impact on the steering wheel.

[00:46:19.230] - Marilyn

And he said, you walk on, Marilyn. Oh, great. My head hurt, I was really a mess. Oh okay, so I start to trudge up the hill, and it's really now getting very dark. And car lights came, and it was my instructor. He had heard I had the crash. He opened the door, I jumped in. We went on up to the field. The house was dark, and we drove out to the airfield. And there was Mr. Rockefeller with every vehicle he had on the farm — front loaders, tractors, plows, a couple of old cars with all their lights sort of on both sides, trying to make it look like a runway so he could see where you were coming. And he had a flashlight in each hand. And he walked over to the car and I rolled down the window and he stuck his head in and I said, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. I really destroyed your airplane. It is destroyed. And he stuck his head in and he said, Marilyn. And there were tears in his eyes. And he said, "Planes can be fixed. Planes can be rebought or what, but good people can never be replaced."

[00:47:49.350] - Marilyn

And I realized at that moment that there was something more with this man. And I just got goosebumps now thinking about it, and it was just the sweetest thing. And so I went ahead and rented another plane, which, by the way, wasn't a tail dragger. And it seemed like so easy to fly because you just sit there like a car. It was upright. And went over the next day to Augusta. And I passed my pilot's test very well and got my license signed. And as I came into the lobby, there he was with a dozen red roses and my flight instructor and to congratulate me. And he heard then that Bill Moss had left me and left the company. And he told me that he had been in love with me for two years, but he didn't want to break up a marriage. And that was the beginning of our love.

[00:49:01.550] - Kate

 A wonderful story.

[00:49:06.510] - Marilyn

And he's such a wonderful man. Oh, my God. The opposite of my first husband.

[00:49:12.550] - Kate

And one of the Rockefellers. Truly.

[00:49:17.570] - Marilyn

Yeah.

[00:49:18.040] - Kate

You married into quite the family.

[00:49:21.330] - Marilyn

Yes, I did. And that was a little odd and awakening as well.

[00:49:28.230] - Kate

Yes. My goodness.

[00:49:30.630] - Marilyn

Again, nothing I ever thought would ever happen.

[00:49:34.150] - Kate

So by the time you were ready to sell the company, it was doing very, very well. And what I love is it was a state role model as a successful, socially responsible business.

[00:49:53.550] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:49:54.210] - Kate

And as far as you know, moss was the first company in Maine to provide insurance for gay couples, as an example. That's wonderful.

[00:50:04.770] - Marilyn

Yeah, I had to fight for that, but I got it.

[00:50:07.030] - Kate

You got it. Yes, I know. Because somebody had been employee had been turned down, right?

[00:50:14.230] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:50:14.890] - Kate

And you said, absolutely, his partner has to be covered.

[00:50:23.190] - Marilyn

Yes. I went to bat.

[00:50:24.710] - Kate

Yes. So in 2001, you sold the company for more than $15 million.

[00:50:32.490] - Marilyn

Yes. Obviously, I was not marrying Mr. Rockefeller for his money. 

[00:50:42.510] - Kate

Yes. It was true love. And it still is.

[00:50:46.620] - Marilyn

It still is.

[00:50:48.270] - Kate

So after that, you went on to get a master's in creative writing and you wrote this memoir. And what else do you want to say about this, about what you went through and what you're living now, how you're living now?

[00:51:10.310] - Marilyn

Well, I guess the main thing that I want to say about the whole experience of writing this book, I didn't start out to write about me, first off. I think that's extremely hard to do. And I was not willing to open up myself very much. But as I kept working it and reworking it and reediting it, I must have reedited it and written it more than, I don't know, 20 or 30 times over again. And I learned so much each time. Each time I learned not only more about writing and writing well, but I also learned more about myself and about really what I had done and what I had learned. And then I thought, oh, there is a real purpose for this book. I'm hoping that it really resonates with any young woman or older woman that's getting ready to change their life in any way possible and to give them courage to face the fears and face things that they don't know how to do and just do it and be tenacious. And really applying themselves and trying to make it work and believing in themselves. And I think that's what the book is doing.

[00:52:44.780] - Marilyn

And that makes me feel good, because when I thought I wanted to be a doctor, actually, I felt that way all through high school. I liked that because I thought I could make a change, make a difference, do something, and be of service, be of help. And when I was pushed into this business world, it didn't seem right to me. That wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. Leading this company, I think, gave me the opportunity to see where I could apply that need in myself. And that I really do believe that in the power of business as an agent of positive social change. And I really urge anyone in business, especially women running business, to use their intuition, their empathy, and respect their employees, and they'll really make a difference.

[00:53:44.230] - Kate

That's great. You learned so much. You have learned so much. You've applied what you've learned, and you have grown an incredible amount.

[00:53:53.930] - Marilyn

Yes, definitely grown a lot.

[00:53:57.130] - Kate

And would you say that you unlocked MarilynRae and let her be part of all this?

[00:54:04.510] - Marilyn

Oh, absolutely. And she was unlocked in writing that book. At some point there, I let her out of the closet. I let her just break free and be herself. And it really not only felt good, but I think that's what made the book interesting. And I certainly have been getting a lot of accolades, and it's women writing me letters and telling me how it's changed their lives and how much they love the book and even some men, which really shocks me when they say that I've given them some inspiration. It's very gratifying.

[00:54:53.800] - Kate

Yes. Congratulations, Marilyn.

[00:54:57.390] - Marilyn

Thank you.

[00:54:58.290] - Kate

Congratulations, MarilynRae!

[00:55:01.170] - Marilyn

Yes.

[00:55:03.730] - Kate

Both of you. And all one.

[00:55:08.210] - Marilyn

Thank you very much.

[00:55:09.540] - Kate

Oh, thank you. So is there anything else you'd like to say before we sign off?

[00:55:15.190] - Marilyn

Well, if anyone's interested in the book, it is sold from the publisher, which is called Islandport Press in Maine. And you can get it also on Amazon and then, of course, local bookstores can order it as well from the publisher.

[00:55:38.560] - Kate

And I read the Kindle version, actually, because I wanted to take it. We recently went to Ireland, and I wanted to take it with me, but then I got caught up in all the movies that were available, so I didn't get that much of it read. But I still liked it and I got so engaged with it at home. And that is the real testament to it, because I usually have so many distractions — and I still had the distractions, but I was just intent on the book. So that says a lot about it.

[00:56:14.890] - Marilyn

Well, I love hearing this. Thank you.

[00:56:19.050] - Kate

You're welcome. Very welcome. Well, I thank you, Marilyn, for being on the show. This has been terrific. You just have been wonderful to talk to, to talk with, and thank you so much for sharing your story.

[00:56:34.590] - Marilyn

Well, it was such a pleasure to talk with you and I loved your questions and your thoughts. No, this has been fun. Hopefully, even if only one person hears it and thinks about what I said and does something that they fear or tackle something that's hard and just says, I can do this, that's important.

[00:57:03.110] - Kate

Yes, absolutely. This is Kate Jones with The Gale Hill Radio Hour. Until next time, thanks for joining us. Please share this episode with all the mountain girls in your life who aspire to great heights.