Mary Nelis was born in Wellington Street in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1935.
12 Facts About Mary Nelis
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Mary Nelis is the eldest daughter of the late Catherine and Denis Elliott.
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Mary Nelis was educated at St Eugene's Convent School and left school at fourteen to work in the Hogg and Mitchell shirt factory.
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Mary Nelis became active in the civil rights campaign demanding equal rights for the people of the city.
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Mary Nelis trained as an adult literacy teacher and was a founding member of the Derry Reading Workshop, an organisation set up to help those with educational needs.
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Mary Nelis later established the Templemore Co-op, a craft co-operative for women with exceptional sewing skills.
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Mary Nelis was the centre of some controversy in 1978 when Conor Cruise O'Brien, editor-in-chief of The Observer, refused to publish an article about her by Mary Holland, describing Nelis as a "conwoman".
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Mary Nelis was elected to Derry City Council in 1993 and served two terms.
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Mary Nelis was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, one of only fourteen women of 108 members.
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Mary Nelis was re-elected in 2003, but resigned a year later to care for her husband, who sustained injuries in a road traffic accident; and was succeeded by Raymond McCartney.
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Mary Nelis was presented with the Paul O Dwyer Award by the IAUC for her work for peace and justice in Ireland.
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Mary Nelis writes the political column in the Sunday Journal and contributes to the Sinn Fein paper, An Phoblacht.