"Mary Thelma Washington"{April 21,1904-July 14,2005}

Born in Vicksburgh Mississippi,she was the daughter of Daisy & William Morrison,a carpenter,who boasted to his friends that his young daughter could read the entire newspaper.When Mary was 6,her mama died,and she went to Chicago to live with material grandparents.Mary attended Wendell Philips High School,where she excelled in math.After graduating from Wendell Philips High School,Mary took a position at Binga State Bank,one of only a few African-American owned banks in
the 1920s.Arthur Wilson,the banks vice president and Mary's supervisor,took note of her bookkeeping skills and encouraged Mary to pursue her business degree.Arthur was an accomplished CPA,Having the  notable distinction of being only the second African American in the United States to earn his CPA license in 1923.When she attended Northwestern University's School of Chicago Business in the late 1930s, Mary found that she was the only woman in the program,and certainly the only African American female student.Being light-skinned,she was accepted as white,as Mary's daughter Barbara Shepherd,a retired Chicago Public School explained.Mary began building her tax-season
clientele in 1939,and focused on serving the community of small African American-owned businesses in her area.One of her early and long-time clients was Samuel B.Fuller,a self made millionaire and owner of the Fuller cosmetics company Fuller Products Company.Samuel same to rely heavily on Mary's services and advice's and later leased some of his business office space to her to accommodate her growing business.Mary earned her degree in 1941 and was able to serve her
apprenticeship with Arthur.When sat for the CPA licensing exam,again,she was the only
woman in the room.In 1943 Mary became the nation's 13th African-American CPA,and the first female of the group to
attain her license,Mary became a leader for future generations of accounts.The firm she began in her basement on the South Side of Chicago in 1939,known today as Washington,Pittman & Mckeever,remains one of the largest African-American own firms in the nation.As time went by,Mary fostered the development of young African American CPAS who needed to serve apprenticeship to earn their CPA licenses.Hiring was typically done through references from friends
and associates.Frederick Ford,currently the vice chairman of the board at Draper & Kramer,the
Chicago-based real estate firm,came to Mary looking to serve his apprenticeship in 1949."None of the big CPA firms would hire blacks,so Ms.Washington offered to let me come and work.
She opened the way for a number of black CPAs,"he said.According to Theresa A.Hammond
in her book A white-Collar Profession:African-American CPAs since 1921,aspiring young accounts would move across the country to have
the opportunity to work for Ms.Washington.As a result of her generosity,by the 1960s,Chicago was recognized as having the largest number of African American CPAs,of any city in the nation,most of who served the city's significant African American community.In Chicago's tight-knit African-American accounting community,one of 1950's and 1960's,Mary was certainly a leading figure,having been associated with nearly every African American CPA through one channel or another.To draw the community more closely together,Mary threw annual holiday parties at her home,inviting her own employees and the rest of the city's achieving African American CPAs to the
event,as well as clients,many of whom remained lifelong friends and professional admirers.Lester MckeeverWashington,Pittman,& Mckeever's current managing partner and principal and former chairman of the Federal Reserve of Chicago,came to work for Washington part-time during the busy tax season,and while away from the army.When he was called back,Mary petitioned for
his early release from service,but was denied.And when his time in the Army was up,he returned to work at the firm full-time;it came to be known by today's name in 1976.