Mary M. (Bliss) Bryarly was born March 7, 1917 in Ames, Iowa to Glen and Susan Bliss. She graduated from Iowa Falls High School in 1935 and Ellsworth College in 1937, and attended the Iowa State Teacher’s College (now the University of Northern Iowa) from 1939-42. She began her career in 1937 teaching in Maple Hill, Chapin and Bussey, Iowa. In 1944 she married Arthur Bryarly in Los Angeles where the couple lived from 1945 to 1952 when they moved to Redondo Beach. She worked for the May Company and then was a substitute teacher from 1951-1972 and a teaching aide from 1973-1982. She continued to volunteer in the school district after retiring. Her husband worked for the California Department of Fish and Game. Arthur passed away in 1981 and Mary died on February 28, 2006.