?»?Mary Blackwell Joehrendt became a licensed pilot in 1958 and in 1960 became a licensed flight instructor. She had logged more than 11,300 flight hours (450 of them in a prop jet) and had an additional 4,800 flight hours as a flight instructor.

She was an FAA designated pilot examiner and in 1973 received the FAA's First District "Flight Instructor of the Year" award. Mary held an airline transport certificate and was also a member of the International Association of Women Pilots (the 99?€™s), the Organization of Women ATR Pilots, the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association and the National Association of Flight Instructors. She was listed in the 1972 edition of Who's Who of American Women.

Tragically, she died in an airplane crash in 1973, while giving instructions. The Florida Spaceport chapter of the 99's established a scholarship named after Mary Blackwell Joehrendt and Anne Walker, honoring two early members of their chapter who were killed in aviation accidents.