Mary Julia Browning was born on September 19, 1928 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her parents were Robert M. Browning and Louise Gray Browning. She attended Holten Arms School in Wasington, D.C. then went to Mount Holyoke College from 1947- 1951, graduating with a degree in art history. She moved to Iowa City, Iowa where she worked as a radio station announcer in 1951-1952. She then moved to Boston, Massachusetts and worked in administrative positions in the Harvard University Employment Office 0and the Ritz Carlton Hotel. She also took a class at Boston University. She moved to Washington, D.C. and worked at the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church as membership secretary. She married Edward Robert Nelson (Bob) 1958; they had two children and divorced in 1966. Between 1963-1976 she held elementary teaching jobs in independent schools in North Carolina, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. From 1979-1981 she worked as an employment counselor and worked with the elderly in Beverly, Massachusetts. She died in Beverly on September 22, 1994 at the age of sixty-six.
From the guide to the Mary B. Nelson Papers MS 0625., 1911-1994., (1948-1989, (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)
