Wood, Mary Elizabeth, 1902-

Educator, social worker, and YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) administrator. Born in Des Moines, Iowa, Mary Wood graduated from high school in 1920 and Drake University in 1924. After teaching for one year at Houston College in Texas, she became director of the youth program for the African-American branch of the Tulsa, Okla., YWCA. In 1949 she attended a Leadership Training Institute in Geneva, Switzerland and subsequently worked at YWCA branches in Denver, Newark, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh.

In 1957 she was appointed metropolitan executive director of the YWCA of Buffalo and Erie County, N.Y., the first African-American woman to hold such a post. In 1968 she became metropolitan executive director of the Southwest Belmont Branch of the Philadelphia YWCA. Retiring in 1972, Wood served as a consultant to the national board of the YWCA and in 1996 she was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame.

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