Mary Elizabeth Paschall

Born in the city of Philadelphia, Mary Elizabeth Paschall grew up in a little row house in east Baltimore.  Her boundless creativity, natural curiosity and thirst for knowledge of other cultures were temporarily satisfied by daily visits to the Wolf Street branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library.  The pure joy of learning helped her to survive the challenges of the educational system in the racially charged climate of the sixties.  Mary graduated from Western High School in Baltimore, earned a B.S. degree in Technology and Management from the University of Maryland, and a M.S. degree in Strategic Intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College at Bolling AFB during a lifetime of learning.   

A recent retiree from the U.S. Department of State after a career in Information Management, Mary is founder of PENYU Publishing Inc.  PENYU means turtle in Bahasa Indonesia.  With the persistence and perseverance of the turtle, this consulting firm is dedicated to encouraging writers to produce unique quality chapbooks.    

Mary has presented for the United Missionary Baptist Convention of Maryland Youth Department, the Howard County Chapter of the NAACP, graduate seminars at the University of Maryland, and at the African American Women on Tour Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.  She participated in poetry readings throughout the Baltimore metropolitan area and most notably as a participant in The Spectrum of Fire.  An established vocalist, collage artist, and writer, she is a first prize winner from the ‘A Poet Born’ contest.  Her submissions have appeared in numerous publications such as A Little Night Music, Spirit, The Compass, The Masonic Family, Synergy, Outreach, and the newly released book Journey To Empowerment by Maria Dowd.    

In The Silence edited by Mary, is a thought-provoking collection of poems which will be released in early 2004.  Like the fluid hand shapes and gestures of a Deaf person, this work illustrates the many sides of silence and invites the reader to consider following an unfamiliar path along life’s journey.   

An avid traveler, Mary enjoys precious moments spent with her three grandchildren, Erika, Erin, and Ariana.  She currently resides in Pasadena, Maryland with her husband and life-long friend, Earl.