Mary Lydon was born on December 1, 1930 in Sacramento, California. She is the daughter of Greek immigrants. Her mother and father were born in Hania on the island of Crete. Her father immigrated to the United States as a young teenager. He worked in the mines and served in the military during World War I. By doing so he obtained American citizenship. He returned to Greece at different times, once when he married in 1928. Mary's parents immigrated to the United States together shortly after their marriage. They lived in Detroit, where her father worked at an automobile assembly line. After settling in Sacramento, her father worked in agriculture. Mary was raised in Sacramento and earned a Masters degree in speech language pathology from Sacramento State. She worked as a speech pathologist and at the Easter Seals Society.
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