Mary was born and raised in North Texas, then lived in New Orleans for 10 years prior to making Upstate New York her home for the last 24 years.  Mary resides in Dryden with her husband and has 2 grown children.   Mary graduated from Texas Woman’s University with a bachelor’s degree in social work in 1986, and with her Master’s degree in social work from Southern University of New Orleans in 1993.  Mary started practicing social work in 1996 and has a range of experience from medical social work, working in a nonprofit managing a FEMA grant, parent involvement coordinator for Head Start and has spent the last 21 years as a school social worker and parenting educator.   Mary has her Certificate in School Social Work and has provided supervision to MSW interns through-out her tenure in Dryden. Mary is a parenting educator through Cornell Cooperative Extension in Tompkins County and teaches several classes each year.  Teaching and helping support parents with new parenting skills and approaches is a passion of Mary’s.