Biography
MARY E. EATON grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and worked as a librarian there. When relatives introduced her to Christian Science in the early 1890s, she accepted it at once and took Primary class instruction with Flavia Knapp, one of Mrs. Eddy’s students. Miss Eaton soon left her library job to give her full attention to the public practice of Christian Science. She was a member of Mrs. Eddy’s last class of 1898 and maintained a close relationship with her teacher thereafter. Between 1900 and 1908, Miss Eaton quietly served as a personal shopper for Mrs. Eddy in Boston, visiting stores in search of clothes, food, and other goods that weren’t available in Concord, New Hampshire, where the Leader of Christian Science was living at the time. In 1902, Miss Eaton was also briefly a worker in Mrs. Eddy’s household, when Mrs. Eddy gave her a pin—a dove set in pearls shown in this portrait—as a token of her appreciation. At Mrs. Eddy’s invitation, Miss Eaton was a member of the 1907 Normal class under the auspices of the Christian Science Board of Education. She subsequently taught in Boston, as well as in Toronto and Washington State.
