Glen Colbey

Glen Colbey is Marsha Colbey’s husband and the father of their children. His role in the narrative is grounded in the family’s shared poverty and its struggle to recover after Hurricane Ivan destroyed their home: he and Marsha had to find work and temporary shelter while caring for their children, and his eventual return to steadier employment marked a measure of stability after the disaster.

Family and Circumstances

Glen and Marsha lived with their children in a crowded trailer and were already financially vulnerable when hurricane warnings reached coastal Alabama. The family had six children to protect, and Glen and Marsha had both found construction and roofing work at the start of the summer. Their situation places Glen within the book’s account of a family trying to keep its footing amid poverty, precarious work, and the demands of caring for children.

Marsha’s close, affectionate relationship with the children is described in detail: she read to them, played with them, and kept them close. The narrative does not describe Glen’s parenting in the same terms, but identifies him as her partner in the household and in the effort to support the family. When Marsha became pregnant with a seventh child, the prospect of reduced work capacity added another pressure to the family’s already difficult circumstances.

Hurricane Ivan and the Search for Stability

In September, Hurricane Ivan destroyed the Colbeys’ home. The family joined thousands seeking assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; they eventually received a camper trailer and placed it on their property so the children could remain near their schools. The arrangement offered temporary shelter, but it did not restore the work the family depended on. Rebuilding jobs would not be available for several weeks, leaving Glen and Marsha without the construction and roofing work they had found earlier in the summer.

By winter, conditions in Baldwin County had begun to settle. Jobs returned, and Glen found more steady work. The family remained poor, but most of the children were back in school, and the immediate crisis had eased. His return to steadier employment is a concrete change in the family’s circumstances, not a complete escape from hardship: the account emphasizes that they were still struggling financially.

Narrative Role

Glen is presented through the pressures the household faces rather than through an independent storyline. The hurricane’s destruction makes the fragility of the family’s livelihood visible: their home is lost, work disappears for weeks, and temporary government assistance becomes necessary to keep the children near school. The return of jobs and Glen’s steadier employment provide a limited counterpoint to that disruption, showing how the family moves from acute uncertainty toward a precarious recovery.