Mary was born in Springfield, Mass. to parents who had so hoped their second offspring would be a boy that they hadn't even considered any feminine names. Pressured by a nun at Mercy Hospital who wouldn't release the child until she had a name, Mary's mother blurted out the name of the Blessed Mother. The Sisters of Mercy raised their hands to the heavens with joy, and thus began Mary's life-long career as a crowd-pleaser.

She graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Anthropology (and just to make sure she was unemployable, a minor in Philosophy),  After inheriting five acres of Indiana farmland, Mary moved to the Midwest with her first (or “Starter”) husband to raise children, sheep, and a feral cat that turned out to be a serial chipmunk killer.

The Earth Mother years were full of great material. Mary began writing it down and the first piece she ever wrote was published by The Chicago Tribune, feeding the delusions of grandeur planted years before at Mercy Hospital.

Mary’s weekly humor column, Second Half, appears in the San Mateo County Times and other ANG newspapers every Wednesday and Friday.  She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, James “Keeper” Hanna, Mr. Bobo the Wonder Cat, and Corky the French Bulldog.  She has two grown sons and a serious Diet Pepsi habit.


Affiliations

National Society of Newspaper Columnists
Women’s National Book Association
California Writers Club
Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop