Mary Wylie (nee Jones) McCarty (1904-1992) was born in Waycross, Georgia, to Wiley Newton Jones (1872-1952) and Minnie Margaret Brinson Jones (1869-1949). She had four sisters; Sara Jones (1896-1899), Kathleen Soyars (1899-1980), Tallu Brinson Jones Fish (1901-1971), and Cecille Sutlive (1907-1999). She graduated from Georgia State College for Women with a degree in education. Her husband, Edwin Forrest McCarty (1891-1979), was a representative for the New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. and a member and director of the Atlanta Underwriters Association. Mary Wylie and Edwin were co-presidents of the Atlanta Junior League from 1941-1942. In 1955 McCarty received the Woman of the Year in Education award for her administrative work as president of the Junior League School of Speech Correction. McCarty, a newspaper columnist, wrote several articles for The Atlanta Constitution, most notably Cator Woolford: His Benefactions Have Helped Thousands.