Mary Regula, 1926-2018

Mary Regula WWP

Photo credit - courtesy of the National First Ladies’ Library

The founder of the National First Ladies' Library.



Mary Regula was born in Girard, Ohio, to Eastern European immigrant parents. Growing up, she was fascinated with Eleanor Roosevelt, followed by an interest in American history and particularly in the women who influenced it.

After high school, she was awarded a scholarship to Mount Union College in Ohio, where she studied American history and education. At the time, she met her future husband, Ralph Regula, and after graduation, the couple married and settled on her husband’s family farm in Navarre, Ohio. There, she worked as a teacher and educator.

Since 1960, her husband got involved in politics, and in 1973 he was elected into the US house of representatives, a position he served in for 18 terms until he retired in 2009. During the 36 years that her husband was in US Congress, Regula was his most trusted adviser. As a Democrat, she contributed her opinions and helped him to express a moderate Republican voice. She had a desk in his office in Washington, assisting him in various events. On one of those occasions, Regula was supposed to deliver a speech on Mary Todd Lincoln. She could barely find information about her. This experience gave her the idea of a library focused on the first ladies of the US, from Martha Washington to the current First Lady.

In 1994, at the age of 66, Regula recruited 13 women to set the ground for establishing a first ladies library as a research and education center about the first ladies of the US and other women pioneers in US history. With first lady Hillary Clinton as honorary co-chair and with the support of all the living first ladies, she launched a nationwide funding campaign, and in 1998 the First Ladies’ Library was opened to the public. Today, the library, located at the Saxton McKinley house – the family home of Ida Saxton McKinley, the wife of President William McKinley, is a designated historic site.

Throughout her life, she promoted women’s issues. She was the National Cabinet of Mount Union Women president and founded the first National Student Women’s Scholarship. She was the Chairman of “Made in the USA,” advocating for Americans to purchase domestically manufactured products, and a member of numerous organizations, including the Smithsonian Society, the US Capitol Historical Society, the Ohio Historical Society, and National Trust for Historic Preservation.

In her later years, she had Alzheimer’s disease and passed away when she was 91 years old.

Mary Regula honored

A bicolor European beech tree was planted at Secrest Arboretum, on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, in honor of Mary Regula. The ceremony was June 8, 2012

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Fun Facts

  • She has three children.
  • She grew up in a democrat surrounding; the first Republican she met was her husband.
  • She was Catholic, and her husband was Protestant. To overcome the differences, they decided to raise their children Episcopalian.
  • She and her husband commuted every weekend from Washington to their home in Navarre, Ohio.
  • The Ralph and Mary Regula Center for Public Studies and Civic Engagement is named in their honor.

Awards

  • The Women Helping Women Award (1996)
  • Inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame (1999)
  • Honorary doctorates from Mount Union College and The University of Akron

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Mary Regula honored

A bicolor European beech tree was planted at Secrest Arboretum, on the campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, in honor of Mary Regula. The ceremony was June 8, 2012
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Activism & Feminism

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