Mary E. Marshall

Mary Edythe Marshall, the beloved daughter of the late Estella Barry Marshall and Frank Marshall, Jr., was born on August 6, 1940. After a brief illness, she passed away on July 25, 2015. She was ducated in Baltimore City Public Schools, graduating from Frederick Douglass High School. She matriculated and culminated interdisciplinary programs of study in higher education at Baltimore City Community College, Morgan State University and Maryland Institute of Art. As a lifelong learner, avid reader and bibliophile, she studied and mastered a wealth of knowledge about African American history and culture, the African diaspora and the history of labor and unionist movements in the United States. As a family historian, she researched and chronicled accounts of the Fortie family, a free African American family from whom her maternal grandfather descended, that founded a private day school for African Americans during the 1800's when the state of Maryland did not provide public education for African Americans. In addition, she investigated the activism of the Fortie family in African American Methodism during the 1700s. She also examined the outmigration patterns of the Cralle and Sutton families from whom her maternal grandmother descended, from Norththumberland County, Virginia, to Baltimore, Maryland, in the early nineteenth and twentieth centuries. A dedicated federal employee for more than four decades, she worked at the Internal Revenue Service prior to her tenure at the Social Security Administration. As Vice President of the American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Local 1923, she advocated for fair employment practices and worked to resolve labor relations issues. She was based at the Wabash Avenue site of the Social Security Administration. Referred to affectionately as "Miss Mary" by her colleagues, she always personified integrity, honesty, commitment and strong resolve in the execution of her duties. Her interpersonal skills were exemplary. Therefore, she was highly regarded for her talents as a "people person." Her dedication to the arts and civic engagement was realized by her memberships in the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., the Greater Baltimore Section of the National Council of Negro Women and the Joshua Johnson Society of the BC ti- more Museum of Art. She garnered recognition for her volunteerism at the Greater Baltimore Section of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., and the Blacks in Wax Museum. In the 1990s, she was a prime architect in organizing and hosting the Kunte Kente African American heritage festivals held in Baltimore. She enjoyed diverse interests that included Afro-centric jewelry-making, genealogy, traveling, collecting antiques and patronizing African and Afri- can American arts and culture. Her travels to Senegal and Morocco were joyous ventures and sojourns. Playing the game of jeopardy always served as a welcome challenge for her. As a resident of the Original Northwood Community, she took pride in gardening and home-decorating. Enthusiasti- cally, she sponsored trips for colleagues and friends for cultural excursions to the Studio Museum of Harlem and to Broadway performances such as "The Lion King." She is survived by her sister Barbara, devoted family and friends ... and by all who would call her family and friend and by all she would call her family and friend.

Tributes

Mary E. Marshall

August 6, 1940 - July 25, 2015