Born in 1908, Mary Burkholder moved to San Antonio before 1913. She earned her teaching credentials in 1929 from Our Lady of the Lake College and passionately taught for decades at Jose Navarro Elementary School. In the late 1960s, Mary took on the task of documenting the condition and history of the houses in the historic King William neighborhood where she lived. In 1947, the King William Area Conservation Association formed to preserve their rich history. This effort was reinvigorated by Burkholder and others who formed the King William association on July 28, 1967. As an active member until her death in 1997, she conducted extensive research and published two books on the area’s homes, preserving one of San Antonio’s oldest neighborhoods.