Mary Julia Workman was born in 1871 as the daughter of William and Maria Workman. The Workman family are a prominent Los Angeles family. William was Protestant, but the Roman Catholic faith of her mother, Maria, predominated; consequently, Mary Workman received a Catholic education, graduating in 1890 from the Convent of the Sacred Heart of Mary and Jesus, in Oakland. In 1902 she completed studies in kindergarten teaching, at the State Normal School in Los Angeles; Workman would teach in the city's public schools until 1923.

At some point during these years, because of her studies, Mary Workman became deeply influenced by the ideals of American Progressivism. The fruit of this influence was manifested in her leadership in the establishment of the Brownson House (1901), a landmark on the West Coast of the settlement house philosophy and one of its stronger Roman Catholic expressions.

In politics she was likewise dedicated to reform and humanitarian causes. Her advocacy of the Progressive tenet of city government based on civil service led to her presidency of the Los Angeles City Civil Service Commission (1927-1928). Mary Workman also participated in other civic reform groups, such as the Municipal Light and Power Defense League, which watched over city services, and helped in the recall of corrupt Los Angeles mayor Frank Shaw, campaigning for reform candidates John Anson Ford and Fletcher Bowron through such means as radio speeches. Her work with the Democratic National Committee, Southern California Division, involved her in Democratic politics in the Los Angeles area.

Mary Workman's political pursuits extended beyond parochial Los Angeles issues--vital as they may have been--to national and international issues. Part of the post-World War I movement for world peace, Workman vigorously labored for the participation of the United States in the League of Nations. To this end, she founded, and was an officer in, the Southern California chapter of the League of Nations Association. Of a similar nature was her participation in the Catholic Association for International Peace, Southern California Committee, of which she was secretary. The CAIP was intended to apply Christian ideals to the troubled world politics of the post-war era; this application of Christian principles to resolve international conflict clearly expresses Mary Workman's philosophy of social activism.

Thus, underlying all her life's work was Mary Workman's Roman Catholic faith, a connection vividly demonstrated in Pope Pius XI's grant of the papal medal "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" to Mary Workman in 1926. The medal rewarded Roman Catholics for their humanitarian work and, in Mary Workman's case, especially recognized her contribution to the field of social work, but within the Roman Catholic tradition. This was a signal honor for Workman, for she was the first woman in the diocese of Los Angeles to receive this medal. Mary Workman's praiseworthy life ended in 1964, following complications from a broken hip.