Mary Otelia Eastwood was born June 1, 1930, the sixth of eight children of Wiota dairy farmers Ralph and Selma Berget Eastwood. Mary began her education at Wiota's one-room school, then joined the Argyle HS class of 1947, where in band she played the cornet. She attended Platteville Teachers College and graduated from UW-Madison in 1951. After two years teaching Social Studies and Band at Potosi (WI) HS, she decided on a new career and in 1955 graduated from UW Law School.
Mary moved to Washington, DC in 1955. This was when the Interstate Highway System was being planned, and her first job was with a team of lawyers in the Highway Research Board of the Nat'l Academy of Sciences, researching state laws that might affect construction and use of the Interstate.
Mary was hired in 1960 by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). That Office provides binding legal opinions for the President and heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on official governmental matters. She worked in OLC until 1979.
In 1962, Mary was loaned part time by the Justice Dept. to serve on the staff of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. There she met several other women who were to be key to bringing about the "second wave" of the feminist movement: Pauli Murray, Catherine East and Marguerite Rawalt. She and Pauli Murray co-authored "Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII." ("George Washington Law Review," Dec. 1965). It provided a feminist interpretation of women's rights under the Constitution and the new equal employment opportunity provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Betty Friedan, author of the best-selling book, "The Feminine Mystique," began meeting with Mary and Catherine East frequently during the winter of 1965-66. They urged Friedan to form a new organization to put pressure on government agencies to properly enforce nondiscrimination laws. This led to the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Mary arranged for the NOW organizing conference held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1966, and she was active in drafting policy positions and suggesting strategies during NOW's early years. She was one of the four attorneys on NOW's historic Legal Committee, whose casework led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to begin addressing complaints of sex discrimination.
In 1967, American women's suffrage leader Alice Paul recommended Mary as a member of the National Council of the National Woman's Party (NWP). Mary served on the Council and Board and as an officer of NWP for many years, including as President in 1989-1991.
In 1968, Mary was one of the founders of Human Rights for Women, the first tax-exempt organization devoted to women's rights litigation and research.
In 1979, Mary was hired as Assistant Special Counsel for Investigation, Merit Systems Protection Board, a new office established by the Civil Service Reform Act. The Special Counsel's functions included preventing illegal personnel practices in federal agencies and protecting whistleblowers from reprisal. When the Special Counsel left office at the end of 1979 President Carter designated Mary to serve as Acting Special Counsel until a new Special Counsel was confirmed.
Following her retirement from government service, Mary was President of a private corporation, Equal Opportunity Consultants, which had contracts with several government agencies to investigate discrimination complaints filed by their employees.
In 1973, Mary bought the Berget farm, just south of the Eastwood farm, renting the land to her farmer brothers, Wade and John. In 1988, she retired and moved there. She lived the rest of her life in the house where her mother, Selma, and grandmother, Fredericka Shager (Andrew) Berget were born, next door to her niece, Christine Meyer and grandniece, Elsa. Mary's house became the gathering place for annual family reunions. For her nearby relations, she hosted holiday feasts and frequent cozy soup suppers.
Most of her travel during her working years was back to Wisconsin to visit her family. She did take one major trip, in 1981, to China with a group that included three of her friends. Mary enjoyed most kinds of music. She played the piano, classical guitar and cornet and also liked to draw, paint, cook, and sew. She shared her living space with her well-loved cats, and was concerned for the welfare of all animals, becoming a vegetarian. Mary was a member of the Wiota Happy club of Lafayette Co. Home and Community Education Assn (HCE), The Prairie Enthusiasts, and former member of the South Wayne Women's Club and the Questers. She served for many years as treasurer of the Miller Cemetery Association.
In the 1990s, she and Catherine East helped Jacqui Ceballos organize the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) and she served on the VFA board for many years. Her papers on the women's movement were donated to the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Radcliffe and are indexed on Harvard OASIS. The Schlesinger Library also has an oral history of Mary Eastwood.
Mary passed away peacefully in her home on October 10, 2015. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers David, Wade and John, and sister Ruth Holub; sisters-in-law Margie Vevle Eastwood and Sharmon Sabot Eastwood and brother-in-law Bohumil Holub; and nieces Jessica Eastwood and Elizabeth Eastwood Mendez. She is survived by her siblings, Elton of Stone Lake, WI; Basil (Barbara) of Round Hill, VA; and Barbara (John) Meyer, of Woodford, WI; 20 nieces and nephews; 32 grand nieces and nephews; and her Berget, Eastwood, and Skinrood cousins.
A celebration of Mary Eastwood's life will be held at Mary's home outside Wiota on Sat., Nov. 7, 1-4 p.m. Cremains will be buried August 12, 2016 during the Eastwood family reunion, at Wiota's Miller Cemetery.
Mary moved to Washington, DC in 1955. This was when the Interstate Highway System was being planned, and her first job was with a team of lawyers in the Highway Research Board of the Nat'l Academy of Sciences, researching state laws that might affect construction and use of the Interstate.
Mary was hired in 1960 by the U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). That Office provides binding legal opinions for the President and heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on official governmental matters. She worked in OLC until 1979.
In 1962, Mary was loaned part time by the Justice Dept. to serve on the staff of the President's Commission on the Status of Women. There she met several other women who were to be key to bringing about the "second wave" of the feminist movement: Pauli Murray, Catherine East and Marguerite Rawalt. She and Pauli Murray co-authored "Jane Crow and the Law: Sex Discrimination and Title VII." ("George Washington Law Review," Dec. 1965). It provided a feminist interpretation of women's rights under the Constitution and the new equal employment opportunity provisions of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Betty Friedan, author of the best-selling book, "The Feminine Mystique," began meeting with Mary and Catherine East frequently during the winter of 1965-66. They urged Friedan to form a new organization to put pressure on government agencies to properly enforce nondiscrimination laws. This led to the founding of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Mary arranged for the NOW organizing conference held in Washington, D.C., Oct. 1966, and she was active in drafting policy positions and suggesting strategies during NOW's early years. She was one of the four attorneys on NOW's historic Legal Committee, whose casework led the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to begin addressing complaints of sex discrimination.
In 1967, American women's suffrage leader Alice Paul recommended Mary as a member of the National Council of the National Woman's Party (NWP). Mary served on the Council and Board and as an officer of NWP for many years, including as President in 1989-1991.
In 1968, Mary was one of the founders of Human Rights for Women, the first tax-exempt organization devoted to women's rights litigation and research.
In 1979, Mary was hired as Assistant Special Counsel for Investigation, Merit Systems Protection Board, a new office established by the Civil Service Reform Act. The Special Counsel's functions included preventing illegal personnel practices in federal agencies and protecting whistleblowers from reprisal. When the Special Counsel left office at the end of 1979 President Carter designated Mary to serve as Acting Special Counsel until a new Special Counsel was confirmed.
Following her retirement from government service, Mary was President of a private corporation, Equal Opportunity Consultants, which had contracts with several government agencies to investigate discrimination complaints filed by their employees.
In 1973, Mary bought the Berget farm, just south of the Eastwood farm, renting the land to her farmer brothers, Wade and John. In 1988, she retired and moved there. She lived the rest of her life in the house where her mother, Selma, and grandmother, Fredericka Shager (Andrew) Berget were born, next door to her niece, Christine Meyer and grandniece, Elsa. Mary's house became the gathering place for annual family reunions. For her nearby relations, she hosted holiday feasts and frequent cozy soup suppers.
Most of her travel during her working years was back to Wisconsin to visit her family. She did take one major trip, in 1981, to China with a group that included three of her friends. Mary enjoyed most kinds of music. She played the piano, classical guitar and cornet and also liked to draw, paint, cook, and sew. She shared her living space with her well-loved cats, and was concerned for the welfare of all animals, becoming a vegetarian. Mary was a member of the Wiota Happy club of Lafayette Co. Home and Community Education Assn (HCE), The Prairie Enthusiasts, and former member of the South Wayne Women's Club and the Questers. She served for many years as treasurer of the Miller Cemetery Association.
In the 1990s, she and Catherine East helped Jacqui Ceballos organize the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA) and she served on the VFA board for many years. Her papers on the women's movement were donated to the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women at Radcliffe and are indexed on Harvard OASIS. The Schlesinger Library also has an oral history of Mary Eastwood.
Mary passed away peacefully in her home on October 10, 2015. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers David, Wade and John, and sister Ruth Holub; sisters-in-law Margie Vevle Eastwood and Sharmon Sabot Eastwood and brother-in-law Bohumil Holub; and nieces Jessica Eastwood and Elizabeth Eastwood Mendez. She is survived by her siblings, Elton of Stone Lake, WI; Basil (Barbara) of Round Hill, VA; and Barbara (John) Meyer, of Woodford, WI; 20 nieces and nephews; 32 grand nieces and nephews; and her Berget, Eastwood, and Skinrood cousins.
A celebration of Mary Eastwood's life will be held at Mary's home outside Wiota on Sat., Nov. 7, 1-4 p.m. Cremains will be buried August 12, 2016 during the Eastwood family reunion, at Wiota's Miller Cemetery.