Mary E. Hindmarsh was born on January 27, 1914 in Ashtabula, Ohio. At the time of the 1930 Federal Census, she lived in Ashtabula with her parents, John and Elizabeth, and her two younger brothers, Jack and Paul.

In 1940, Mary Hindmarsh, Private Duty Nurse, 26, born in Ohio, was a boarder in the Pittsburgh home of Paul Van Ryn, 30, his wife, Regina, 23, and their two young children.

In Pittsburgh, on February 11, 1942, Mary E. Hindmarsh, 29, married Wendall D. Van Ryn, 31, a member of the U. S. Army at the time of the marriage. Wendall "Dean" was the brother of Paul, with whom Mary lived in 1940. They were the sons of Henry and Myrtle (Johns) Van Ryn of Wilkinsburg. The marriage license indicates that Mary's parents were John Hindmarsh, born in Tyrone, Blair County, Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth Gueguen, born in Houtzdale, Clearfield County. John Hindmarsh worked for the railroad and they lived in Ashtabula, the birthplace of Mary.

Mary Elizabeth Van Ryn, divorced, 62, died in Ashtabula on March 20, 1976. She is buried at Saint Bernard Cemetery, Hastings, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Her parents are buried there, as well, although she predeceased them. Her father died in 1986, and her mother, born in 1889, died in 1995.