Mary hoped to train as a doctor but her father deemed this an unsuitable career for a girl. Instead she began work at the YWCA. In 1913 she attended the YWCA training school in Sydney and on her return to Auckland set up the Hearth Fire Movement – an early girls’ movement teaching domestic skills and based on the ideology of devotion to the home. She resigned her post with the YWCA in 1919, but maintained her interest.

During WW2 she was recruited by Dorothy Hawkins, head of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps for the Northern Military District, to take command of the WAACs in camp at Papakura. Following training at Trentham and promotion to the rank of Captain Mary took on this role. She was, apparently, never happier. The position provided scope for her organisational and leadership qualities. She is also remembered as a stern disciplinarian who did not always manage to suppress her rage.

Reference: Sandra Coney: Every Girl : History of the YWCA, pp231-233