Mary was elected to the Wisconsin Rapids Public School Board in 2001.  She is a graduate of Auburndale High School.  Her husband, Tom, works at Domtar and is an alderman in the City of Wisconsin Rapids.  They are the parents of five children; three who have graduated from Lincoln High School and two currently at Lincoln.  They also have two grandchildren who attend Woodside Elementary School.  Mary has been a Classroom Aide at Wood County Head Start for seven years.  She is a past co-chair of Washington Elementary School PTAC and was an active volunteer there for nine years.  Mary is also a member of the Telecommunications Advisory Commission in the City of Wisconsin Rapids and was appointed to the State Medical Mediation Panel by Governor Doyle in 2005.

Mary has served on various committees while on the school board and was a member of a 4 Year-old Kindergarten Panel at the Wisconsin Association of School Boards Convention in Milwaukee in 2006.