What Was Her Parents' Marriage Like?

Answering another of the questions posed in comments:

Terry asked the question: "what was her parents' marriage like?"

The answer:

Mrs_C_mother_in-law hounds Mrs_C_father_in-law all the time. I mean hounds. She tells him what to do from start to finish - she will tell him what to do and how to do it on everything from making coffee to side-seat driving. It is to the the point where Mrs_C and her sisters have told her (various times) to back off hounding the old guy.

When he is in private he will talk a fair bit, but around her he remains silent most of the time. She will correct him or cut him off with almost every statement he make.

Mrs_C_father_in-law is not a very educated guy (he's just over 80 now - he has a grade 6). As the oldest son he worked to put all the younger ones through school and such. He has a good heart. I think he's a good guy, even if we don't connect as well as we could - we both try (him: work with his hands farmer guy. me: more academic brain work guy...)

My Mom likes Mrs_C_father_in-law, even if she finds his worldview somewhat, uh, limited. And he is conservative politically - my family is VERY NOT conservative. My Mom is, uh, a little less generous with Mrs_C_mother_in-law. I believe the term she used was "harridan".

Mrs_C_mother_in-law is ok in my books, except for how she treats Mrs_C_father_in-law. Mrs_C_mother_in-law also has a few sort of one-uppy tendencies that irk me, but I ignore them for the most part. Mrs_C (for example) will describe to Mrs_C_mother_in-law a labourious process she went through to solve some problem (usually around renovations or somthing) and then describe the solution. Mrs_C_mother_in-law will then go "Oh yeah, well you should have done it this way from the beginning" or "I could have told you that" as though Mrs_C_mother_in-law knew the answer from the beginning... it is a not very subtle one-up that pisses me off.

Mrs_C_mother_in-law likes me and treats me well in person. I do not know about in private conversation, but I think she doesn't do me overt dirt.

There are four sisters (including Mrs_C). All of the Brothers-in-law have had battles with their wives when they have displayed Mrs_C_mother_in-law tendencies. All of us have said we would leave before we would let happen to us, what has happened to Mrs_C_father_in-law.

Mrs_C and the sisters are all wound up when they are around Mrs_C_mother_in-law. If Mrs_C_mother_in-law starts a task (like cleaning the table) all the sisters dive in to the point they are tripping over each other.

All the sisters have described their mother as often manipulative and a master guilt-tripper.

Mrs_C_mother_in-law beat/violently disciplined her two older daughters (including Mrs_C) when they were young (under 12).