Name:

Mildred Fairbanks Stone

Place of Birth:

Bloomfield, New Jersey

Place of Death:

Basking Ridge, New Jersey

Ethnicity:

White

Religion:

Baptist

Father's Name:

Franklin A. Stone

Mother's Maiden Name:

Garabrant

Spouse's Name:

Said she "never found the right man," so she became "the mother of all insurance agents"

Sibling's Names :

Sister Marjorie; twin brothers

Formal Education:

Fairview Elementary School; Bloomfield High School (graduated 1920); Vassar College (graduated 1924)

Job Title:

Assistant to the President

Company Name:

The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company

Employment History:

Home Economics teacher, Bloomfield High School; Clerk, Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company; Agency Field Secretary, MBL; Directory of Policyholder Services, MBL; Assistant to the President, MBL; Assistant Secretary, MBL

Affiliations:

Newark New Jersey Life Underwriters Association (Program Chairman); Newark Chapter of the American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters (President); League of Life Insurance Women of New York (Member); Advertising Club of New Jersey (Member)

Awards and Dates:

Phi Beta Kappa (1924); first woman Certified Life Underwriter (1928); first woman officer of MBL-Agency Field Secretary (1934); Bloomfield Outstanding Citizen Award (1956); American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters Newark Chapter Distinguished Service Award (1961)

Interests and Hobbies:

Knitting scarves for Seaman's Church Institute; vacationing in Lake George, New York; gardening

Societal Contributions:

Bloomfield Board of Education, Community Chest, Friends of Bloomfield Library, League for Family Service, American Association of University Women, Brookdale Baptist Church, Bloomfield Historical Society, Oakeside Cultural Commission, Mountainside School of Nursing, United Fund, Council of Social Agencies, Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association, Public Health Nursing Association, New Jersey Historical Society, Audubon Society Author: Calling and its College: A History of the American College of Life Underwriters (1963); Teacher who Changed an Industry: A Biography of Dr. Solomon S. Huebner (1960); Since 1845: A History of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company (1957); Life Insurance (1955), Better Life Insurance Letters (1950); A Short History of Life Insurance (1942)

Additional Comments:

When she was promoted at Mutual Benefit, she was feted in the office but then went home while the male executives and officers of the company went out to the men-only Essex House in Newark to celebrate. Stone said, "That was all right with me! That's just the way it was."