February 20, 2021
Mary Beth Crafts, nee Mary Elizabeth Amend, was born Sept. 4, 1941, in New York City (Manhattan). Her parents were Edward R. and Kathryn Quinlan Amend of the Bronx.
At the age of 2, Mary Beth moved with her parents to Bayside (Queens) where she attended Sacred Heart Grammar School. Following her high school graduation from The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates, the family moved to Slingerlands, N.Y., a suburb of Albany. After receiving a bachelor of arts degree in history from the College of St. Rose in Albany, she was employed as a claims representative by the Social Security Administration, training first in the Albany District office, and then returning to Queens to work in the Flushing District Office. In 1968, she was promoted to a budget analyst position at Social Security Headquarters in Woodlawn, Md.