Mary E. Maney served in the SPARS during World War II. She was trained at the Coast Guard SPARS Training Station in Palm Beach, Florida.After the war, in 1951, Maney became a Sister of Divine Compassion at Good Counsel Convent in White Plains. She studied at Albany for 5 summers, from 1969 to 1973, when graduate courses cost $20 per credit. In 1973, she obtained a master's degree in Education Administration, which assisted her in her work as undergraduate registrar at the College of White Plains (now Pace University).

On the UAlbany Veterans Wall of Honor dedicated on June 9, 2001, Sr. Maney's photograph shown here was used in the painting and is one of 24 portraits that appears on the 36-foot long mural.