She didn't intend to be a groundbreaker or history-maker or woman-ahead-of-her-time. She just wanted to do something she loved, and it happened that she fell in love with a career no woman in Michigan had ever embraced. In 1944, Mary Feindt became the first woman in the state to become a registered land surveyor.
Feindt, a 1999 recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from Ferris State University, serves on the Surveying Engineering Advisory Committee for Ferris. She also remembers having a hand in organizing FSU's surveying department.
"I was on the Michigan State Licensing Board at the time, and although I don't recall specifics, I remember visiting the surveying classes and carrying back the report to the licensing board," said Feindt.
"Professors didn't know what to do with me. One gave me the answers to tests and another flunked me just because I was female."
First Female Student
As a University of Michigan surveying student in the late 1930s, Feindt's chosen vocation was not without its challenges. "Professors didn't know what to do with me," she said. "One gave me the answers to tests, and another flunked me just because I was female. The Engineering School at Michigan tried to discourage me from entering."
Setting
Her Own
Boundaries
Credentials But No Career
Even though her credentials included a B.A. degree from Albion College (1937), a B.S. in Geodesy and Surveying from the University of Michigan (1938), and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from U of M (1944), Feindt had difficulty finding someone who would hire a woman surveyor.
"One professor wrote several letters of recommendation for me and finally he talked his brother-in-law into hiring me. It's the same firm I now own," said Feindt.
Feindt has been owner and president of Charlevoix Abstract & Engineering Company for over 50 years. Her late husband, who had business training, worked for her, a novel arrangement at the time. "He ran the office while I did the surveying," said Feindt. "It was a switch, but it worked."
Feindt recalls some of the problems she encountered during those years. She often has had to testify in court regarding the accuracy of property titles, and she remembers being harassed on occasion. "Some attorneys came into my office and tried to steal my notes," said Feindt.
"I took the notes and walked the streets so they couldn't find me."
She also remembers attempts to intimidate her when she found discrepancies between title property descriptions and reality. When this occurred, it was Feindt's job to relocate property markers. "One woman threatened me with a gun because she wanted the boundary left where she had it."
Surveyers' Style
Although it wasn't a life-threatening issue, Feindt found the problem of proper clothing irritating at best. Trudging through all types of terrain in all kinds of weather to survey property, she had to wear men's clothing until slacks for women came into vogue. "And I had to wear men's boots, which ruined my feet," said Feindt.
Feindt has a granddaughter at Ferris, Amy Zeitler, a junior in what else Surveying Engineering. Zeitler plans to eventually join her grandmother's firm.
"My grandmother has been an inspiration to me," said Zeitler. "She broke all the traditions; even now there are hardly any women in surveying. I can't believe she did this so long ago."
Full-time Fun
Regardless, her feet continue to run. At 82, she still works full time operating the business, acting as Charlevoix County Surveyor, serving on numerous committees, coordinating her Detroit office's surveying team headed by her son, testifying in court, traveling nationwide and worldwide to share her expertise with various survey and title organizations, participating in community work, and acting as liaison between the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and the American Land Title Association.
Fostering understanding between the two professions title examiner and surveyor has been a source of particular satisfaction to Feindt. "Here you have two professions, one not understanding the other, and I've been able to go back and forth between them," she said.
"I like helping people with their problems. And I like the world I'm living in."
