Community Corner

Chief Force: Mary Mitchell Got Local Paper to List Women's Full Names

Prime Poway Woman No. 7 didn't appreciate paper listing women only by Miss./Mrs. and last name.

A resident of Poway since 1968, Mary Mitchell is the owner of Mitchell & Associates Real Estate and a longtime volunteer in the city.

She helps with the American Red Cross, is a member of Poway Soroptimists and serves on the city of Poway’s Redevelopment Committee.

She previously was involved in Poway Junior Women and the Poway High School’s Band Booster Club.

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But she said she’s most proud of persuading the Poway News Chieftain in 1972 to list women by their full names rather than refer to them as “Mrs.” or “Miss.”

“What we did, we did. ... Our husbands did not,” she said.

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She finds her inspiration from many women.

“I would have to say the woman I admire the most is the single mom who struggles every day to make sure her children have a future,” she said.

What does Women’s History Month mean to you? 

“When I graduated from high school, women had about five career choices: motherhood, nursing, secretary, teacher or nun. Now, young women have the world open to them!

“The women who manned the factories when the men went off to war opened the path to where we are today.  Those are the women who chipped that glass ceiling for us. Now it is up to us to help the next generation go further than we ever did. History is but a door to the future.”


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