Mary Don was born March 4, 1934 to Myrtle (Gilberg) and Donald Baldwin in Devils Lake, ND. As a young girl, her family moved to Bozeman, MT where they operated a café and took many weekend trips to the beautiful Yellowstone National Park. Three years later, Mary Don went to live on the family farm in Mylo, ND with her grandparents, Julius and Mary Gilberg, where she attended the Union Township one room schoolhouse and played on the farm with her dog Sport. She later moved to Rolla, ND, where she went to high school and was involved in music and cheerleading. It was in Rolla where she met the new kid in town, Leroy Aafedt, who would later become her husband. Mary Don went on to college at Minot State and later transferred to Moorhead State where she studied business. Mary Don and LeRoy were married in Rolla on August 7, 1955.