A Life of Service, Built on Grit and Gratitude
Mary’s path to Prescott — and to public service — has been anything but conventional. Raised in a bustling household of nine children, she learned early the values of hard work, self-reliance, and compassion. With no money for college and an aversion to debt, she chose the path of service by enlisting in the U.S. Navy. That decision would shape her life in ways she never imagined — from high-tech training missions in the Nevada desert, to a life-changing accident, to a second chapter in law and advocacy, all leading to the community she and her husband Gene now call home: Prescott.
Along the way, Mary has been many things — a veteran, a caretaker, a student, a lawyer, and a volunteer. But no matter the role, one thing has always remained constant: her belief that dedication, thoughtful leadership, and openhearted service can make a difference. That belief is what now drives her to seek a seat on the Prescott City Council.
I grew up part of a large family (nine kids), early childhood in Redondo Beach, California, and teenage/young adult years on the San Francisco Peninsula. Having no money for college, and raised to be adverse to debt, I joined the US Navy. Stationed at NAS Fallon, NV, at the remote Electronic Warfare Range, I ran Soviet anti-aircraft radar, training combat pilots to detect and avoid surface-to-air missiles as the pilots flew by on their runs to the bombing range.
While at Fallon, I married a fellow sailor, Gene, who was then ten years into his intended 20-year course in the Navy. But life had its own ideas…
About a year after we wed, Gene was run over by a drunk driver. Six months in the hospital and a medical discharge later, we needed to make other plans. After my discharge, we moved to Washington State where Gene obtained his BA degree in Broadcast Communication (thank goodness for the GI Bill). He was hired by the Department of Defense, Armed Forces Radio & Television Service (located in Southern California), which allowed him to provide a touch of home to service members stationed overseas and on ships, even if he could no longer be in uniform himself.
“I’ve faced big challenges, made hard choices, and walked through uncertainty — but always with the goal of serving others and doing what’s right. Prescott is our forever home, and I want to give back to the place that has given us so much.”
It was then my turn to go to college. Because Los Angeles is not a ‘one-paycheck’ town, I worked full-time (tracking and analyzing franchise contracts for a local television station) while I took all my undergraduate courses at night, a seven-year effort, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration/Organizational Management. By then age 40, I simply continued on, going to law school, graduating Cum Laude with a Juris Doctorate degree.
Over the next fifteen years I practiced law in Southern California, defending individuals and entities who were being sued: county governments, school districts, hospitals and doctors, business owners, and property owners. Claims ran from simple trip-and-fall, to employment discrimination, to third-party violence, to product liability, to complex medical malpractice.
In 2013, the time came for us to put California in the rear view mirror. We had been to the Central Highlands on motorcycle trips before, and targeted this area for our forever home. Coming south on the 89 out of Chino Valley, seeing a herd of pronghorn off in the grasslands, then driving into the magical Narrows though the Dells, it was easy to choose Prescott.
Gene and I continue to live in gratitude, that we are here in this area of friendly people, history and charm, open spaces with room to breathe, the dramatic Summer monsoons, the lovely (but not too much) snow. Earlier this year Gene and I crossed our 45th wedding anniversary and look forward to many more here in Prescott.
