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Mary Rosina Willard (1863-1931) was a prominent school teacher and conservationist in Jamestown New York from 1875-1916. She taught several classes at Jamestown High including English and English History, where she taught and later became close friends with Supreme Court Justice and chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, Robert H. Jackson.

Early life and Education Career
Mary Rosina Willard was born in Jamestown New York in 1856 to Lucius Willard, who worked in Jamestown’s furniture factories, and Rachel Doty Jones. Her younger Vesta Willard was born in 1863. The family lived on East 6th Street in Jamestown. Mary Willard attended local schools, and graduated from the Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute in 1875 where she was a pupil in the English Academic Course. After graduating from the Jamestown Union School and Collegiate Institute Mary Willard taught in the public school system teaching elementary grades from 1875 until 1885. In 1885 she became a member of the faculty at Jamestown High School where she served until her retirement. At the high school she taught history, literature, and English, and was the Preceptress of the English and English History department for many years.

Mary Willard was a member of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Founded the Avon club, a Shakespeare club for girls, and was an avid conservationist playing an instrumental role in the preservation of the “Old Hundred Acre Lot” which would become used as as a school park and is now the College Park at Jamestown Community College.

Relationship with Robert H. Jackson
During her career as an educator Mary Willard would become an inspiration figure for numerous students at Jamestown High School including Robert. H. Jackson who believed that it was “in large degree due to her leadership and teaching that a standard of public speaking, journalism and writing prevails in this city above that usual to one of our size.”

While attending Jamestown High School in 1909 at the age of 17 Robert H. Jackson took two courses taught by Mary Willard; English and English History.” Willard became a mentor to Jackson and served as his adviser as he prepared for interscholastic debate competitions. Jackson would often visit Mary and Vesta Willard’s home in Jamestown, a house the sisters called “bohemia.” During his visits they would share diner, listen to records on the Victrola and read to each other. Jackson credited Mary Willard with instilling in him a passion for knowledge and education saying she was “inspiration to good reading, or to writing, and to living on a higher plane of culture, came from this earnest and modest woman.” Jackson recalled Willard’s efforts to teach him “the best in literature,” including Shakespeare, Thomas De Quincey and George Bernard Shaw.

As the American Chief Prosecutor at Numbered Jackson gave both the opening and closing statements at the trial. During his closing statement in 1946 Jackson quoted Shopkeeper’s Richard III:

"“It is against such a background that these defendants now ask this Tribunal to say that they are not guilty of planning, executing, or conspiring to commit this long list of crimes and wrongs. They stand before the record of this trial as bloodstained Gloucester stood by the body of his slain King. He begged of the widow, as they beg of you: “Say I slew them not.” And the Queen replied, “Then say they were not slain. But dead.”<ref name=undefined/ http://www.roberthjackson.org/the-man/speeches-articles/speeches/speeches-by-robert-h-jackson/tribute-to-mary-willard/"