USN / Feb 5, 2017

Utah Standard News is proud to announce the addition of Mary Burkett to our growing list of columnists.

Born in southern New Jersey and raised in Southern California, Mary Burkett calls Southern Utah the home of her heart.

Mary has been writing since she was very young. While in high school, a friend’s mother edited a neighborhood newspaper and invited Mary to write a column about the local high school. Her love of research and interviewing was born.

Read Mary’s First Column ‘A Convention of States’ Here

She was raised in a typical, blue color family where Walter Cronkite was on the television, a daily newspaper was delivered, Newsweek magazine and National Geographic were delivered, read and discussed. Her father was a 20 year Army veteran and infantry Master Sergeant in World War II and Korea. She grew up hearing stories of sacrifice and the expectations to achieve and serve were emphasized. Both of her brothers served in the Army, the younger of the two, served in Vietnam.

A graduate of the University of Utah, she was the single mother of six and completed her degree in three years. While a student, she captained the four-member Bateman Case Study team that won first place in a national competition.

She has had several careers: technical writer, marketing director in the shopping center industry, business and personal development coach, business owner and office administrator.

Her six grown children, four stepdaughters, their spouses and soon-to-be 29 grandchildren are her joy.
Mary’s college degree is in Communications but she took a number of History classes and rediscovered her love for American history.

More than a decade ago, she realized that most of what was called news was actually commentary, frequently based on deliberate distortions of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.As a result, she began reading everything she could about the founding of the nation, the caucus-convention system, attended meetings and asked questions of those in power. Over a period of months, she began to form opinions but continues to read, learn and ask questions. She is most passionate about the proper role of government as a whole, the federal government in particular. “I have great faith in the American people. They are strong, smart and capable. When given the opportunity, the American people rise to the occasion. Look at the outpouring of American kindness that occurs after every national disaster, no matter where in the world it occurs. When allowed, the American people take care of themselves, accept responsibility for their mistakes and look out for their neighbors. They are resilient. Government needs to get out of the way and allow the goodness of the American people to be unleashed rather than constantly trying to stifle it with regulations, unreasonable laws and mandates.”

Mary is the Monday co-host of The Kate Dalley Show, writes a monthly column for the Washington County Republican party and writes daily on her blog, jeffersonsmitharmy.blogspot.com. For fun, she goes to the movies (an ardent American film fan but her all time favorite movie is High & Low, directed by Akira Kurosawa),  reads novels, writes short stories and spends as much time as possible with her children and grandchildren.

She and her husband have traveled to most of the major U.S. cities, France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and Israel. If anyone wanted to surprise her, they would hand her tickets for three months’ travel through England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, her favorite part of the world away from Utah.