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(0)By : Rebecca G. Blakeley
Helen Gordon: the Woman Behind the Greensheet
$3.99 – $11.99Price range: $3.99 through $11.99In 1969, Helen Gordon moved to Houston with her new husband, Robert DeYoung. A no-nonsense, pragmatic mother of three with the heart of a musician and the soul of a painter, Helen was determined to be her own boss by owning and operating her own company. It didn’t take her long to find success. Helen started the Greensheet, a free advertising tabloid with classified ads and a list of business services, in 1970. Within eight years, she expanded it to five Texas cities without the help of bank loans. But she lived in a good of boy atmosphere, in which long lunches over dry martinis were the norm and women were generally absent from the boardroom.
Even so, Helen was undeterred. She was determined to build a company that would prosper, and prosper it did. By 2012, the Greensheet had grown to a circulation of 650,000 and appeared within four Texas cities. Today, her company is a household name and continues to be one of the most successful classified tabloids in the state.
Her irrepressible optimism, sense of humor, and vivacious personality served her well in her personal and professional life. As told by her daughter, Rebecca, Helen Gordon: Th c Woman Behind the Greensheet is Helen’s inspiring true story.
Rebecca G. Blakeley worked for the Greensheet and Gordon Flowers with her mother for more than twenty-nine years. She is currently retired and works as a volunteer in the Houston community.
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(0)By : Jackie Brown Riddick
More Than A Conqueror
$3.99 – $11.99Price range: $3.99 through $11.99Life was different back in the day. Community was vital. Childhood antics, teenage exploits, and the challenges of young adulthood revealed I didn’t know what I thought I knew. Through all of this, the greatest influence of my life was my mom. She helped me process the good and the bad. Instead of being one-dimensional live, love, and laugh with the great intention and anticipation of more. As she is no longer with me her words and laughter linger on, and I am emancipated. I learned that the greatest gift of life was and truly is love; unpretentious, nurtured, and existing to be shared with others.
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(0)By : Dr. Shirley Durham
Parenting Isn’t Easy But Worth It
$3.99 – $9.99Price range: $3.99 through $9.99 -
(0)By : Barbara Norris Arya
Remembering ZEOLA
$3.99 – $9.99Price range: $3.99 through $9.99The stories Zeola told about herself show aspects of her character that was budding at age four and five, for example learning to clean and care for her home and to beautify it. After marriage, she expressed her love for husband and children as she labored daily to take care of them. Preparing three meals daily, washing and cleaning as well as teaching and training her children to work and care for the home are all expressions of her love without using words. She loved her home and cultivated many flowers and trees on the outside. She worked hard to clean and beautify the home on the inside too. For example, she made curtains for the windows and doilies for many tabletops, cushions for chairs and tablecloths for tables. She and Brenda partnered to make quilts and bedspreads for the beds. The church and community were very important to her, and she gave herself to teaching children in Sunday School classes. She loved to sing and worked with the children’s choir at church for many years. Her devotion to Jesus Christ was shown in the zeal with which she took on tasks such as tending to the sick about her and helping those who were in some kind of need. Many of the examples I recount bring to light her service to others. She persisted in the face of multiple trials and afflictions; always getting up and trying again without giving up under their weight. When I began to think about her legacy, I rejoice as I look back over her life and realize that she developed enduring faith and Christian character through all of these things. She chose not to grow bitter because of them, but to submit to God’s will and to press toward victory that would someday be hers.













