Mary Lou Bartram was born in Baltimore County, Maryland where she was reared by her parents, graduated from Sparrows Point High School and Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.  She moved to Harford County, Maryland in 1974 and resided in that county on the date of her induction into the National Jousting Hall Of Fame as a charter member. Mary Lou started jousting at the age of four following in the footsteps of her brother, George, and under the tutelage of Mr. Paul A. Fleury of Kingsville, Md.  She first jousted on her pony in the back yard, using a pool cue for a lance.  When she was eight years old she rode in her first official joust on a full sized horse, and when she was twelve she won her first Amateur Class Championship.  Since that time she has gone on to win many jousting Competitions.  She was The First and only woman to date, to win the Maryland State Championship title which she did in 1953, 1956 and 1960.  Likewise she is the first and only woman to date who has ever won the National Jousting Championship which she did in 1971 and 1982.

Aside from her accomplishments as a rider, Mary Lou, with her brother George, co-founded the Maryland Jousting Tournament Association in 1950.  She served for many years as secretary-treasurer of the organization, as well as being a member of the Board Of Directors.  She also served as president.  She wrote the bill, and was instrumental in lobbing for it in Annapolis when Jousting was given recognition by the state legislature and Governor Tawes as Maryland's Official State Sport.  
 

Mary Lou helped to organize the National Jousting Association, and for several years held the office of secretary.  She has promoted the sport of jousting by appearances on national television (as a contestant on the "To Tell The Truth" program in 1972), Local television and radio.  She has written newspaper and magazine articles that have been published.  She has taught jousting to many young people, spoken to school assemblies, scout groups, clubs and adult citizen groups about the sport of jousting.  As a final tribute to her long and outstanding career in jousting, Mary Lou was the first jouster, man or woman, to be enshrined in the Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame.

Although jousting has been a way of life for Mary Lou, as a single woman she has also enjoyed a successful and constructive career in the field of corrections.  She was the first woman in the United States named as a warden of an all male, maximum security prison - a post she held for six years before moving on to become the first woman in Maryland named as an Assistant Commissioner of Corrections in 1979.  Mary Lou Retired in 1981 after 33 years in State Service.