This site chronicles
the life of an extraordinary woman, my mother. Her story is told
through photographs, articles, documents and letters
(see linked page by clicking here). There are hundreds of
letters, most from her parents, following her emigration to Brazil.
The purpose of the site is to share these memoirs with her relatives,
off-spring and friends.
Her story, as remembered by her son Dennis:
Madelyn Marie Greenwood, born
December 31, 1924 in the tiny village of Akron
Township, Michigan, is the daughter of John Wilfred Greenwood
and Ethel Martha Anderson Greenwood. Her
father was a Methodist minister. Madelyn graduated from High School
in Adrian, Michigan, as the Salutatorian
of her class. She attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas
for her freshman year and then returned home to Detroit and finished
her degree in Journalism at Wayne State University. She worked
as a Fashion editor for the Detroit News. In October 1950, at
the age of 25, Madelyn sailed for Brazil in the company of her
Brazilian friend Haydee Gomes. Haydee had worked for an advertising
agency in Detroit on a rotational assignment and invited Madelyn
to join her on her return trip.
In Brazil, Madelyn went to work for Union Carbide Corp. in
Sao Paulo as the executive assistant to the President. Union Carbide's
offices were in the CBI building, one of the tallest buildings
in Sao Paulo at the time, in the Vale do Anhangabau. 
At
left is a photo of Madelyn (center in the dark dress) and her
co-workers at Union Carbide. In 1950 Sao Paulo was already a major
metropolitan area full of skyscrapers.
The photo of downtown Sao Paulo, at right, was taken from the
CBI building in 1951.
In Sao Paulo and until her marriage, Madelyn was the guest
of Haydee's parents, Mr. And Mrs. Alvaro Gomes. Their home was
just north of downtown Sao Paulo in a section known as Luz, near
the Luz railroad station and the Tiete and Esperia sports clubs.
Both clubs were on the shore of the then swimable and sailable
Rio Tiete.
In 1951, while attending Portuguese classes at the Uniao Cultural Brasil-Estados Unidos, she met Nivio Rodrigues (born November 10, 1926) who attended English lessons at the same school. They met on a Saturday pic-nic to the Estoril resort on the Billings Reservoir on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Nivio was born and raised and had virtually all of his family living in Santos, Brazil's major seaport. Nivio ran the Sao Paulo office of a business controlled by his uncles Aguinaldo and Manoel (Lelo) and older brother Nilo. The company was known at the time as Jose Paulo & Cia., later as Eurobras and finally as Rodrimar. The company was a steamship agency and customs broker.
Madelyn and Nivio
were married in Port Huron, Michigan on August 31, 1952, after
flying from Sao Paulo to Detroit via Lima, Peru and Chicago. Following
the wedding, Madelyn and Nivio went on an extended honeymoon,
traveling by car. 
On October
15, 1952 the newlyweds bade farewell to John and Ethel Greenwood
in Detroit and traveled back to Brazil from New York, by ship.
The photo at right has a caption on the back which says "A
sad October 15, 1952, Detroit" and depicts Madelyn with her
father John.
Madelyn and Nivio had four children:
John and Karen were born while Madelyn and Nivio lived in an
apartment on the Largo do Arouche in downtown Sao Paulo. In 1956,
with the family growing, Madelyn and Nivio purchased a German-style
home (see photo at right of Madelyn in front of the home on Rua
Marechal Deodoro, bearing Dennis. The caption on the back of the
photo, in Madelyn's hand, says "ample frontage") in
the distant neighborhood of Santo Amaro, at the time accessible
from downtown only by tram. The home was on Rua Marechal 
Deodoro 419 (later
1029), which was Madelyn's address for over 40 years, until May
of 1998, when she moved to Miami, Florida. Nivio's initial transportation
for grocery shopping and other errands around Santo Amaro was
a bicycle. Soon after, Nivio bought a 1948 Mercury from his brother
Nilo, a car that served the family well until 1967.
Nivio died in 1976 of a heart attack, one week after turning 50.
John, Karen Sylvia, Dennis and Angela were raised in Brazil, attending Brazilian elementary schools, American or British middle and high schools and then traveled to the United States for University. They all eventually settled in the United States. Dennis spent 15 years, from 1983 - 98 in residence in Sao Paulo.
Madelyn has 8 grandchildren:
| Children of: | Names | Born |
| John and Lynn |
Airina Elena |
1982 1989 |
| Karen Sylvia and Eduardo |
Karina Lia |
1982 1987 |
| Dennis and Esther |
Daniel Thomas Amaya Jacqueline |
1982 1984 1988 1990 |
This is the brief story as family lore remembers it. This site will re-tell the story through contemporary sources, photos, letters and documents. Read on. . .