A ME Story

Since this blog is about me and my ancestors, occasionally I will have a "me" story.  Since this blog is also for my children so they know more about me and my life before we were a family. 
A lot of family stories get lost in the daily grind of living life.  So I am going to use my blog to share some of these stories I forgot to tell them when they were younger. 

I actually made the newspaper three times in my life.  Unfortunately I didn't save the dates or the names of the newspapers they were published in but I have the little articles and I can guesstimate the year. 



Mary Made the President's List BCC

 I believe this one is first, my name has the star in front of it.  The article starts, Fort Lauderdale area students appearing on the President's List for Term I at Broward Community College are:  four lines down is my name.
I did make the President's list every semester I was at Broward Community College earning my Associates Degree in Science in Nursing.  I suspect this was my first term. 
When I interviewed by the Dean of the School of Nursing she was not impressed with my high school grades and I was told I would have to prove myself before I would be considered for acceptance into the nursing program.  I remember telling her I had been the student of the year in the LPN program I attended and had a straight A average from the vocation school I went to.  Her reply was, that was only equivalent to a 10th grade education and not on a college level.  Believe me I lived that year of school, there was no way it was like a 10th grade high school class, it was a lot harder.  I believe this article was at the end of the fall term in 1970.


Mary receives a scholarship



I was lucky enough to receive a $300 scholarship my last semester at Broward Community College.  The funds covered my tuition and my books for that semester.  Now it might cover one book?   It was so hard not to look at the camera.  I graduated in spring of 1972.  The article reads:

Pilot Club of Fort Lauderdale members left, Mrs. Edward Edwards and Mrs. William A. Dale congratulate Mary Hartmann, scholar ship winner.  A licensed practical nurse (repeated twice someone didn't proof real well) Miss Hartmann is studying at Broward Community College to become a registered nurse.  The scholarship was presented from proceeds from the club's annual horse show.  A donation was also made to Pediatric Care Center.



Will the real MH MH please stand up!



My little line in the paper is more of a fun item.   This was cut out and given to me by the Director of Nursing at the hospital I was employed at.  I used Snagit to cut out the part of the article that didn't apply to me but matched the title.

I actually made the paper for my name.  That is what happens when you have the same name as a very popular TV show.  Yup Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.  Only she spelled it wrong.  I couldn't go anywhere without some one making a comment about my name.  I couldn't cash my pay check without someone asking, "is that really your name"?  Every time the TV MH MH did something I was asked at work the next day, did you really drown your best friend in a bowl of chicken soup or what ever she did in the last episode. I had to learn to roll with it but I must admit it was annoying when people thought that was the real me.  I thought I was much more interesting.  I was an RN by this time and working in Miami Florida at Variety Children's Hospital (now Miami Children's Hospital)  This was probably in 1978.

It reads: Guess who showed up at Dade Count jurors' pool the other day. Mary Hartman, that's who, that's who.  Somebody made some crack about the TV connection, and Miami's MH answered, "I had my name longer than SHE!"

I had my name embroidered across my scrubs I use to wear and every one called me by my name twice.  They got tired of saying the whole thing twice and shortened it to Mary Mary.  Some of my close friends still call me Mary Mary.

There you go a little slice of my life.