Mary Bard


Mary Bard Jensen was a 20th-century American writer best remembered as the sister of Betty MacDonald.

Life and career

Mary Bard was born in Butte, Montana in 1904, the eldest of five children. With their mining engineer father, the family traveled all over the country, moving so frequently that Bard did not complete one uninterrupted year of school until she was 13. After a year at the University of Washington and stints as a stenographer, filing clerk, and switchboard operator, she settled on advertising and wrote radio commercials.
Bard was the author of the three-volume Best Friends series for girls. She also wrote three autobiographical works: The Doctor Wears Three Faces, Forty Odd, and Just Be Yourself. The 1950 film Mother Didn't Tell Me was based on her first autobiographical book which covered the courtship with her husband. Married to a doctor, she was the mother of three daughters.

Death

Jensen died in December 1970 of a stroke at age 66.

Works

  • The Doctor Wears Three Faces ;
  • Forty Odd ;
  • Best Friends ;
  • Just Be Yourself ;
  • Best Friends in Summer ;
  • Best Friends at School.