Page 6 - Newsletter Spring 2021

Spotlight on Alumni

By Paula Woodworth ‘70

Mary Inman

Class of 1986

It is Summer in The County and all roads lead to Houlton. A lot of HHS alumni head to town and the local lakes as part of
their vacation. Among those arriving recently is Mary Inman ‘86 who has set up her office at the Inman camp at Nickerson
lake. Leaving behind the hectic world of San Francisco, she has been spotted kayaking and fiddleheading while keeping up
with her legal career specializing in whistleblower litigation. Our former Houlton and Maine Junior Miss has made a name for
herself internationally in the legal field.

Reminiscing about high school memories, Mary spoke of her favorite teachers-Allison Wiggin and Betty Stone. She loved
their passion for teaching and the ability to bring their subjects to life. She was also a part of the music department and spoke
highly of the music teachers and their guidance that found her appearing in show choir and musicals. She even traveled to
Washington, D.C. as part of the John Phillip Sousa marching band competition. Mary credited her relative, Charles Upton, as
someone who encouraged her along the way by building her lamppost prop for her Junior Miss appearances and encouraged
her in the next phase of her process in choosing a college major.

Mary’s college years were spent at Bowdoin College where
Mary spoke of her favorite she majored in Russian language and literature and Women’s
Studies. She spent the summer of 1989 in Moscow and
teachers - Allison Wiggin and Leningrad, studying at the Moscow State Linguistic University.
Betty Stone. This was of particular interest to me as I had participated in
a cultural exchange to Moscow and Leningrad in 1982. I was
curious to compare experiences. We both loved our adventures
in Russia and seeing the places we had studied about in college classes. We shared the experience of meeting local people in
Leningrad and being invited to their homes-me to an apartment for cake and tea, and Mary to a dacha in the country for a
family meal. We agreed that our travels to Russia were one of the best experiences of our lives.

After graduating summa cum laude from Bowdoin, Mary took a year off and moved to New York City to work as a paralegal
for a Midtown firm specializing in trusts and estates and white collar criminal defense. She spoke of Judge Archibauld and her
Bowdoin professor, George Isaacson, as people who encouraged her interest in the legal profession. Her professor had gone to
law school at the University of Pennsylvania which is where Mary also studied and wrote for the Law Review.

Following law school graduation in 1994, Mary moved to Portland to work as a law clerk for several years. She loved serving
the law in that capacity. As part of her work with the circuit court judge, she spent two months in San Juan, Puerto Rico which
was part of that circuit. There they worked on carjacking cases which were a federal offense.

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