Lillian Moller Gilbreth

I'm surprised Lillian Gilbreth (1878-1972) and her husband Frank, both pioneering motion study engineers, didn't film the births of their twelve children to determine the "one best way" to have babies. Two of her children wrote the 1948 bestseller, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, and Lillian comes across as the quintessential mother: settling arguments, putting on Band-Aids (or their early twentieth century equivalent), standing up for the kids to their blustery father and various irate adults. But the reality was she was Frank's equal partner in the science of industrial engineering, carrying on their work alone after he died when their youngest child was two and the oldest was a sophomore at Smith. She overcame a bias against women as business consultants and, in her years flying solo, engineered "efficiency techniques for the American homemaker. She developed important inventions such as the foot-pedal trash can, shelves inside refrigerator doors, and an electric food mixer." (© 2013 Penton Media Inc.) God bless her for that! I don't know what made her name pop into my head today as I was thinking of who to write about, but she's certainly proof that "If you want something done, give it to a busy person."--Lucille Ball (aha! Another wonderful subject!)