{{Infobox person |name = Mary Mostert |children = 6 |spouse = H. P. Grooms (divorced 1975) |birth_date = {{birth date|1929|2|9|mf=y}} |birth_place= Arkansas |death_date = {{Death date and age|2016|7|1|1929|2|9|mf=y}} |death_place = Provo, Utah }}
'''Mary Mostert''' (February 9, 1929 – July 1, 2016<ref>{{cite news |title=Mary Mostert |date=July 3, 2016 |newspaper=Daily Herald |location=Provo, Utah |url=http://www.heraldextra.com/lifestyles/announcements/obituaries/single-large-picture/mary-mostert/article_4ad8a352-f44b-59e3-8a40-e0bb4a2df455.html |accessdate=November 27, 2016}}</ref>) was a political writer and activist. She was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and served as a missionary for the church in Johannesburg, South Africa. She unsuccessfully ran for the New York State Senate in 1972. After her unsuccessful campaign, she became a campaign manager and worked with many different politicians. She wrote a number of articles for several different newspapers and was the author of several books. Mostert was also involved in many political and social groups.
==Early life== Mary Mostert was born in 1929 in Arkansas to J. F. T. Mostert and Lucy Kurtz Stallings.<ref name="findingaid">{{Cite archival metadata |author = Finding aid authors: Kelsey Samuelsen and John M. Murphy |title = Mary Mostert papers |url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7963 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |location = Provo, UT |date = 2013 |accessdate = March 29, 2016 }}</ref> Her father was from South Africa and attended college in Kansas.<ref name="coming home">{{cite book|last1=Mostert|first1=Mary|title=Coming home: families can stop the unraveling of America|date=1996|publisher=Gold Leaf Press|page=169|isbn=9781882723263|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UsPl4XquxQC|accessdate=13 May 2016}}</ref> Her parents got divorced and her mother worked.<ref name="letter to Hunger" /> She grew up Unitarian.<ref name="sacrament talk">{{cite archive | first = Mary | last = Mostert |item = Sacrament Talk |type = textual record |box= One |collection = Mary Mostert Papers |collection-url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7963 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |institution = Brigham Young University |location = Provo, Utah }}</ref> During her lifetime she attended 14 different schools, and due to ill health, did not attend school for a period of two and a half years. During high school she worked in a grocery store, using her extra money to pay for music lessons.<ref name="letter to Hunger"> {{cite archive | first = Mary | last = Mostert |item = Letter Mrs. Hunger |type = textual record |date = June 5, 1985 |box= One |collection = Mary Mostert Papers |collection-url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7963 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |institution = Brigham Young University |location = Provo, Utah }}</ref>
At age 13, she was living in Memphis, Tennessee. She wondered why the city was segregated. She became interested in the Declaration of Independence and what rights were prescribed there, and memorized the entire declaration.<ref name="hunger">{{cite book|last1=Mostert|first1=Mary|title=A Hunger For Liberty Leads to the Declaration of Independence|date=2004|publisher=CTR Publishing|isbn=9780975385104|pages=220–221|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaXp8AqacmAC&q=mary+mostert+life&pg=PA219|accessdate=13 May 2016}}</ref> Mostert always had an interest in politics. She organized an interracial youth group in Memphis in the 1940s. She also conducted street surveys in Memphis asking people if they could recognize a quote from the Declaration of Independence. Many people thought it was from the Communist Manifesto.<ref name="threat of anarchy">{{cite book|last1=Mostert|first1=Mary|title=The Threat of Anarchy Leads to the Constitution of the United States|date=2005|publisher=CTR Publishing, Inc.|page=258|isbn=9780975385142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jntSQ-yn66AC&q=mary+mostert&pg=PA258|accessdate=13 May 2016}}</ref>
At age 16, she attended the University of Missouri. In 1947, at age 17, she married H. P. Grooms. They had six children together, but divorced in 1975.<ref name="resume">{{cite archive | first = Mary | last = Mostert |item = Resume |type = textual record |box= One |collection = Mary Mostert Papers |collection-url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7963 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |institution = Brigham Young University |location = Provo, Utah }}</ref>
Mostert attended the University of Missouri<ref name="findingaid" /> in 1945. She later attended Southwestern University in 1950. In 1985, she returned to school at the American River College.<ref name="resume" />
==Career== ===Writer=== Mostert wrote for ''The Nation'' magazine from 1948 to 1963,<ref name="findingaid" /> reporting on politics. In 1952, she wrote for ''The Negro Digest''<ref name="resume" /> and wrote a column for the ''Times-Union'' in Rochester, New York, from 1965 to 1969,<ref name="findingaid" /> called "Mary Quite Contrary".<ref name="resume" /> In the 1970s, she was a columnist for ''Valley Pioneer.'' From 1986 to 1991, she wrote for the ''Mountain Democrat.''<ref name="resume" />
===Politician=== Mostert began her political career as a Democrat,<ref name="hunger" /> and was a member of the Democratic Party from 1950 to 1970.<ref name="resume" /> She worked for President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty programs,<ref name="renew america">{{cite web|title=Mary Mostert column|url=http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/mostert|website=Renew America|accessdate=13 May 2016}}</ref> however by the end of the decade she had come to believe that the War on Poverty was harming the families it was intended to help, leading her to leave the Democratic Party.<ref name="threat of anarchy" /> Also in the 1960s, she was the national leader of the Mothers' Lobby.<ref name="findingaid" /> In 1962, as the director of the Independent Political Forum, she met with hundreds of women from across the world in Geneva to petition delegates at the 17th National Disarmament Conference in support of the first Nuclear Test-ban Treaty.<ref name="threat of anarchy" /> In 1965, she became the executive secretary for the organization.<ref name="letter to Hunger" /> In the 1960s she was also one of the first female political commentators published in a major newspaper in New York.<ref name="threat of anarchy" />
Mostert ran for the New York State Senate in 1972 as a Republican candidate,<ref name="threat of anarchy" /> but lost the election. She then became a campaign manager<ref name="findingaid" /> and aided campaigns for candidates in New York and California.<ref name="threat of anarchy" /> After losing the election, she moved to California. she was the El Dorado County campaign manager for Norm Shumway in 1978.<ref name="resume" /> She was appointed as the Republican State Committeewoman by Shumway, a position she held for 12 years.<ref name="hunger" />
Mostert involved with Positive Action NOW!, a group of South African women who tried to reduce the threat of civil war between South Africa's different racial, religious and political groups through promoting use of "the language of peace, rather than the language of war",<ref name=threat2>{{cite book|last1=Mostert|first1=Mary|title=The Threat of Anarchy Leads to the Constitution of the United States|date=2005|publisher=CTR Publishing, Inc.|page=259|isbn=9780975385142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jntSQ-yn66AC&q=mary+mostert&pg=PA258|accessdate=2 June 2016}}</ref><ref name="findingaid" /> from 1961 to 1963.<ref name="resume" /> She was secretary of the group from 1991 to 1992. In this position, she was able to meet and work with prominent political leaders in South Africa, including then-President F. W. de Klerk, future President Nelson Mandela, Inkatha Freedom Party chairman Frank Mdlalose, trade union leader Cyril Ramaphosa and Conservative Party leader Andries Treurnicht.<ref name=threat2 /> In 1992, she also attended a meeting of Evangelical Church leaders in KwaZulu-Natal<ref name="threat of anarchy" />
===Other contributions=== Mostert also ran a construction company that won architectural awards for restoring historic buildings.<ref name="threat of anarchy" /> She was the owner of Grooms Housing in Rochester, New York, from 1963 to 1969. She later managed Mostert Construction in Placerville, California, from 1976 to 1991.<ref name="resume" />
From 1994 to 2001, Mostert edited Michael Reagan's radio talk show newsletter and the ''Reagan Monitor''. She also created the Reagan Information Interchange.<ref name="resume" />
==Church service== Mostert met three Mormon missionaries in 1947 when traveling on a boat to South Africa. She did not convert to the LDS Church, however, until 1974.<ref name="sacrament talk" /> She served as a missionary for the LDS Church in 1991<ref name="hunger" /> to Johannesburg, South Africa. She served as the Public Affairs director for the church in Africa.<ref name="findingaid" /> Her mission included the 44 nations in sub-Saharan Africa. She served with Julia Mavimbela, who knew Nelson Mandela. The two of them put together information on the United States Constitution and distributed it to South African women. They also delivered a packet to Mandela.<ref name="hunger" />
==Publications== * ''Coming Home: Families Can Stop the Unraveling of America'' (1996) * ''Banner of Liberty: A Hunger for Liberty Leads to the Declaration of Independence'' (2004) * ''Banner of Liberty: We hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident, That All Men Are Created Equal'' (2004) * ''Banner of Liberty: The Threat of Anarchy Leads to the Constitution of the United States'' (2005)
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Cite archival metadata |author = Finding aid authors: Kelsey Samuelsen and John M. Murphy |title = Mary Mostert papers |url = http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/7963 |repository = L. Tom Perry Special Collections |location = Provo, Utah |date = 2013 |accessdate = March 29, 2016 }} * [https://www.conservativetruth.org/archive.php?authorid=84 Archives of Mary Mostert's articles] {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mostert, Mary}} Category:1929 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Writers from Arkansas Category:Southwestern University alumni Category:University of Missouri alumni Category:American people of South African descent Category:American Mormon missionaries in South Africa Category:New York (state) Republicans Category:Female Mormon missionaries Category:Converts to Mormonism Category:Latter Day Saints from New York (state)