Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Are you familiar with a person named Mary Anderson? If not, I would like to familiarize you with her now.

Ms. Mary Elizabeth Anderson was born on Feb. 19, 1866 in Greene County, Alabama. She was quite the entrepreneur of her time. She was a successful real estate developer, rancher, viticulturist and an inventor.

One day in 1903, while visiting New York on a snowy afternoon, she noticed that the motorman who drove her trolley was struggling at something. As snow fell and cascaded down on his windshield, he was trying to swiftly clear it away, while simultaneously driving. It was quite a struggle. Ms. Anderson wished she could help him.

When Ms. Anderson returned to Alabama, she tried to fix the problem she had seen. So she did. Mary Anderson was the first person to invent something known as … windshield wipers. In 1922, when driving became more popular, Cadillac loved her idea and was the first automobile company to use them. Now in this present ag...