Blocked

                   Martha Ann was well educated and had a fistful of school medals in her
jew elry box. Throughout her years in school, she got mostly A's and B's.
S he graduated with the J.W. Sexton High School class of 1943. The
Departme nt of Mathematics at Michigan State College awarded her an
alumni scholars hip (64 wereawarded total) saving Martha a whopping
$120.00 for three ter ms. German, Chemestry, English, Physics and Math
were her good subjec ts - the excellent student achieved a D in Business
Administration. She h ad the equivalent of five degrees from the school
and later in life obtain ed a teaching certificatefrom Wayne State
University. Martha Ann also w as a member of the Sigma KappaSorority,
Alpha Tau chapter and the Tower G uard.
After graduating from college in 1947 with a BS in Chemistry, Martha Ann
w orked for Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals in Detroit, Michigan and resid ed
at the Evangeline, an apartmentbuilding for young women. She was assis
tant to one of the department heads at Parke Davis and teased her childr
en with tales of his collection of oddities found in foods (such as nai
ls in bottles of Coca Cola). She would not serve Jello, saying she had se
en a plant where the food was packaged and knew what went into it.
Martha wrote up her job description at Parke Davis
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Mywork in the Central Records Office comprises naming, classifying, and
c ataloguing compounds submitted for pharmacological evaluation in
certain t estingprograms. These may be drugs synthesized by members of
the Resear ch staff orby university groups working with Parke, Davis, or
may be comp ounds sent toParke, Davis for evaluation by other chemical
concerns. T he results of thetesting of these drugs are reported back to
me on Centr al Records Office data sheets. I record these results in the
Central Recor ds Office and report them to the senior members of the
staff at monthly in tervals. Reports are alsosent by our office to the
suppliers of compoun ds outside of Parke, Davis.
The cataloguing process permits me to make surveys of the drugs which a
re orhave been under study. I make these surveys to find compounds to
fol low up"leads" in the testing programs, to prepare lists of drugs and
the ir activities for consideration of patent coverage, and to find sampl
es of compounds which are of interest in university research problems.
I maintain a file of samples of compounds which are available for resear
ch purposes. The maintenanceof this file involves weighing and recordi
ng the amount of each compound available and storing the sample itse lf
to make it readily accessible.
Each week I review the Official Patent Gazette and order the patents whi
ch are ofinterest to the research and manufacturing personnel. I abstrac
t, classify,and file each of these patents. These patent abstracts are
ci rculated to theresearch staff and to certain of the manufacturing
personn el. Circulation of the patents is ten made possible to interested
person s. I also make patentsearches to provide background for a
research probl em or background for patent coverage. This is made
possible by the now com plete patent classification system.
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In 1950, Martha won a writing contest through the Detroit Times. She nev
er cashed her award - a check for $1.00. Before her marriage, she visit
ed Haiti with friends, bringing home a number of items made of Haitian
mah ogany. A lazy susan, a set salad bowl set, and several pieces of
furniture from that trip are in the possession of her daughter Ann.
After leavi ngHaiti, Martha went to New Orleans, meeting John Tracy en
route.
Her WeddingAnnouncement
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The new Mrs. John A. Tracy (Ma