Mary Virginia Beck was a Detroit Democratic Party politician, female activist and journalist from Pennsylvania, most notable for being Detroit's first female city council woman.
14 Facts About Mary Beck
1.
2.
Mary Beck was the first Ukrainian-American of Lemko descent to serve in that capacity.
3.
Mary Beck was born in a family of Lemkos Mykhailo and Hanna Voitovych-Bek in Ford City, Pennsylvania.
4.
Since 1944 Mary Beck was a member of the State Bar of Michigan.
5.
In 1930s Mary Beck was an active member of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America.
6.
Mary Beck was editor of the English sections in such Ukrainian press media as "Ukrainska Zoria" in Detroit and "Vilne Slovo" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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Mary Beck came to Detroit in 1934 initially as a social worker at the International Institute and since 1935 she worked as a juvenile court investigator for Wayne County until 1947.
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In 1958 Mary Beck established the Ukrainian Women's Literary Award in Ukrainian literature, today administered by the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations.
9.
Mary Beck had run a single-issue campaign on the subject of crime control.
10.
Mary Beck ran as a write-in candidate in the general election, winning a minuscule share of the vote.
11.
Mary Beck died in Clinton Township and her final service was held in Sterling Heights near Detroit.
12.
Mary Beck was buried at St Andrew the First-Called Apostle Ukrainian Orthodox Cemetery in South Bound Brook, New Jersey.
13.
In 1965 a commemorative stamp featuring Mary Beck was issued by the Women's United Committee of Detroit to commemorate her election in 1950 as the "First Woman to the Detroit Common Council".
14.
On February 1,2005 in the obituary about Mary Beck it noted that she was remembered by her political opponents and her colleagues on the Common Council.