Ashford, Mary Victoria Brown
(born: 1897 - died: 1997)Mary V. Brown Ashford, born in Henderson, KY, was a poet, teacher, and advocate for equality. The daughter of Edward Clay (or Clark) Brown and Georgianna Brown, she was part of a large family. Her brother Hugh V. Brown was a school principal in North Carolina. Both Mary and her sister Annette were schoolteachers in Henderson, according to the 1920 U.S. Census. Annette continued as a school teacher in Henderson [source: 1940 U.S. Census].
Mary moved to Goldsboro, NC, where she was living when she married 37-year old Irvin Marvin Ashford on February 11, 1944 [source: North Carolina Marriage Index in Ancestry.com].
Mary, who had attended college, would continue teaching in the New Haven School System in Connecticut. She was also a leader in the community. The Mary B. Ashford Senior Citizens Daycare Center in New Haven, CT, was named in recognition of her more than 40 years of community service and volunteerism. The Mary B. Ashford Outreach Support Project was established at the Christian Tabernacle Baptist Church.
Ashford also compiled a scrapbook containing the history of her family; the book was donated to a Kentucky archive.
For more see S. A. Zavadsky, "Community remembers Mary B. Ashford," New Haven Register, 5/14/1997, Local News section, p. a3.
