Home In The Morning (32 page)

Mary also began a career as a freelance writer working with nonprofit organizations on projects ranging from a fund-raising campaign for the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center to an instructional video for the National Scoliosis Foundation’s screening project. Mary and Stephen married in 1978. Mary made a full conversion to Judaism and later worked as treasurer/secretary for her synagogue.

The origins of her love for all things Southern arose from a sabbatical year. In 1987, Mary and Stephen first traveled to the south of Spain, soaking in the life of a fishing village called La Cala. After seven months abroad and, hoping to extend their time away, they sought a warm—and more affordable—locale. The romance of Charleston, South Carolina, its Spanish moss, antebellum architecture, and rich cultural life beckoned.

Settling into a rented house on Seabrook Island, Mary fell in love with the people, language, and rural beauty of her new home. Following a lifelong desire to ride horses, Mary took a position mucking the stalls at the local equestrian center and embraced riding, finding her match in an Appaloosa named King of Harts. The sabbatical ended and the couple returned to life in Boston, but the passion for Southern culture remained with them. They were able to return permanently to Seabrook Island in 2008, where they currently reside with their cats and an elderly King of Harts.

The Kowalski family in 1950. In the back: Frank Kowalski. In the front row, from left to right: Carl, Robert, Mary, Freda, and Kathleen.

The Kowalski brood around 1956. Carl, the oldest brother, is in the back; Robert is holding Patti; Mary is on the left with the braids; and Kathleen is behind her.

The Kowalski family in the mid-1960s, from left to right: mom Freda, Carl, Mary, Robert, Peggy, Kathleen, dad Frank, and Patti, with the youngest, Jeanne, in the foreground.

Glickman and her sisters Patti and Jeanne, seen here at home in the mid-1960s.

Newlyweds Mary and Stephen Glickman sitting on the bimah of Temple Beth Zion in 1978. According to Mary, “Stephen grew a moustache for the event. More’s the pity.”

Stephen, Mary, and their friend Risa Schneider Fine in 1981.

The Kowalski children in 1982. Back row, from left to right: Robert and Carl. Front row, left to right: Jeanne, Patti, Mary, Kathleen, and Peggy.

Glickman’s large family of siblings, with nephews, nieces, aunt, and grandmother, seen here around 1983. Glickman is in the back row, center.

Mary riding a horse in Spain during the seven months she spent in the seaside village of La Cala with her husband Stephen.

A rejection letter from the vice president of Norton, written to Glickman’s former agent about her novel
Solomon’s Dotage
. The book was one of six unpublished novels she wrote before
Home in the Morning
.

A postcard from fellow Open Road author Andre Dubus, written around 1990. Glickman and Dubus were friends for several years before his death in 1999.