Mary Fran Kowalo is a life long resident of Brooke County, and a graduate of Brooke High School. She attended West Liberty State College and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education. She has been a teacher in the Brooke County School system for 35 years. Her real estate education was obtained at Spruce School of Real Estate in Charleston, WV.
Appointed as an officer to the 2010 Wheeling Board of Directors.

She has two grown daughters and a granddaughter, Olivia, that is the "love of her life".