Mary was born in the that area of Scotland County Missouri known at the time as Elm Grove which was near the little community of Azen on July 16, 1878.

She spent her childhood on her father's farm located there.

In 1896 she graduated from Memphis College and in April 1898 became the schoolteacher at the rural "Elm Grove" Schoolhouse. She had 30 pupils (of all grades) at the school in her first year there.

Mary and James Jay Cook (1880-1974) were married on July 22, 1903 in Scotland County, Missouri.

Following marriage they moved onto their own farm near Kirksville in neighboring Adair County, Missouri. They did not have children.

Years later, upon retirement from farm life, they moved into town (Kirksville).

Husband, Jim, late in his senior years, became blind but still managed to care for Mary who by that time had become bedridden with rheumatoid arthritis.

Mary died on June 26, 1970 in Kirksville, and was buried at Maple Hills Cemetery in Kirksville. Jim died in 1974, also in Kirksville, and was laid to rest next to Mary.