Kraminson Days is a collection of stories recounting bits and pieces of the life of Mary Werner. Her life has reflected the changes that have been seen in the world for the last 80 years. Her story tracks the movement of women in history from home and kitchen and kids to school and second careers and beyond, a time of incredible change and challenge and rewards. The stories in this memoir are funny, serious, inspiring, heartbreaking, sweet, and real. Mary was raised in Brooklyn, the product of first generation Irish American parents. She was a Catholic school kid who married her college sweetheart starting a lifelong adventure of childrearing, travel, college and law school, the bench, and a rewarding and very full retirement. The chapters take us through some of the most memorable moments of her life - some funny, some tearful, but all centered around her love of her husband and family. Join her on this wonderful journey of a lifetime.
About the Author: Mary Margaret Phelan Werner was born in 1933 in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, NY, one of three children who were all the first in their family to attend college. Mary attended St. Saviour's High School in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and went on to St. John's Teachers' College. Mary dropped out before finishing her degree to marry her college sweetheart. They married in March of 1955 while he was still attending Cornell Medical School. Both of them being Catholic, they started their family right away. After three children and her husband finishing medical school and becoming an Air Force Captain, they were shipped out to the Philippine Islands for his first duty. After his years of service, and more children, they settled in Smithtown, NY, where he started his medical practice. Mary continued having babies until there were seven in the brood. When the children were old enough, Mary decided to finish her education at Dowling College, and then continue on to St. John's Law School. After graduating from law school, she started working in the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. She served in the District Court Bureau trying cases; she became the first female attorney in the Rackets Bureau. She continued her rise up the ranks to become Deputy Bureau Chief and then Family Crime Bureau Chief. After 14 years in the DAs office, she was appointed to the New York State Supreme Court. She was elected to that same position in the next general election. Two years later she was appointed Administrative Judge of Suffolk County Courts and served in that position for five years. In 2006, she retired and became an active member of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Stony Brook University where she took a Memoir Writing Class. Her first book is a result of the memoirs written in this and subsequent classes. Mary has received many honors and awards for her work with abused women and children. Mary has sat on the Boards of: the Bar Association of Suffolk County, the Suffolk County Women's Bar Association, the Energeia Partnership, and Erase Racism. She served as President of the Suffolk County Women's Bar Association. Mary is enjoying an active and rewarding retirement taking classes at Stony Brook University, keeping up with her 7 children and 15 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren, spending time in her garden and reading all the great works of other authors.