Breckinridge, Mary Marvin (1905–2002)
Breckinridge, Mary Marvin (1905–2002)
American journalist and photojournalist. Name variations: Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson; Mrs. Jefferson Patterson; Marvin Patterson. Born 1905 in New York City; died Dec 11, 2002, at her home in Washington, DC; dau. of John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky and Isabella Goodrich Breckinridge (dau. of B.F. Goodrich); granddau. of John C. Breckinridge (vice president of US under Buchanan); cousin of nurse Mary Breckinridge (1881–1965); graduate of Vassar College, 1927; studied at New School for Social Research, NY; married Jefferson Patterson, member of US State Department, 1940 (died 1977); children: Patricia Marvin Patterson and Mark Julian Patterson.
Pioneering reporter who broke through the gender barrier in radio to become one of the 1st women to report the news during World War II, began career in Washington as a secretary for the Democratic National Committee; went abroad to work as a freelance photographer (1930); was in London (1939), when Edward R. Murrow put her on the air to report events from a woman's point of view and she became a regular; broadcast from the Netherlands, then temporarily replaced William L. Shirer in Berlin; donated 23-acre family estate in York, Maine, to Bowdoin College (1973); donated her 550-acre farm to State of Maryland (1983), which became Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum.