Birthday profile

Gwen Marston

Gwen Marston, American quilter and writer (died 2019)

Born
October 2, 1936
Died
April 17, 2019
Zodiac sign
Libra
Birth year
1936

About Gwen Marston

Gwendolyn Joy Marston was an American quilter, quilt teacher, lecturer, and author who championed a style of quilting she called "liberated quiltmaking". She encouraged modern quilt makers to break away from using commercial patterns and to learn to design their own unique pieces of quilt art. Later, Marston authored a biography, Mary Schafer: American Quilt Maker, that was reviewed by library journals and won the Michigan Notable Book Award. Marston created hundreds of quilts using different techniques: hand and machine piecing, hand and machine applique, and hand and machine quilting.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when Gwen Marston was born

Gwen Marston was born in 1936. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1936

  • #1 song"The Way You Look Tonight" – Fred Astaire
  • Top movieModern Times (Charlie Chaplin)
  • Top TV showBBC Television Service launches
  • Best-selling bookGone with the Wind – Margaret Mitchell

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at Berlin Olympics
  • Top headlineJesse Owens dominates the Berlin Olympics
  • Technology milestoneBBC launches the world's first regular television service
  • Defining fadSwing dancing
  • Notable inventionSun glasses (mass-produced)
  • World population2.26 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population128.1M

1936 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Gwen Marston's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19362026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,100$435,000
Average income$2,900$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population128.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, VIAF, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.