Mary Edna Logan and dog, Tripp, with one of the company’s trucks, above. Mary Edna Lynn Logan is a very capable woman at the helm of a very maledominated arena, and she does a very good job. As co-owner of Fireman Termite & Pest Control, Inc., this lady knows exactly what the customer wants and she makes sure they get it, too!

Q. Mary Edna, how long have you been in this business?

A. Believe it or not, for 32 years!

Q. What brought you to this line of work?

A. Well, I grew up in Atlanta, Ga. and I attended college at Georgia State University, Huntingdon College and St. Leo College. Prior to 1991, my husband, Elmer Logan, and his business partner, Gail Thompson, were running Fireman Pest Control. I worked in the office too, taking care of the phone, scheduling and billing. Elmer died suddenly, in his forties. I was left with a son in high school. I decided very quickly that my job was to provide stability for my son and my company. That inspires me to succeed every day.

Q. What are some of your accomplishments?

A. I have an amazing family – my son, Charles Lynn Logan. We have a strong beautiful company. My husband had a degree in Entomology from Auburn. When he started the business in 1977, he wanted to raise the level of the Pest Control Industry. We put his education with my background in banking and that is what we did. That is what we still are doing at Fireman Pest Control.

Before my husband’s death, I was very active in the community. I was the first “Lay” president of the Gulf Breeze Interfaith Council. I was in on the foundation of Manna Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity and Favor House. I also participated in a prison ministry for women at Escambia County Jail, and worked in Adult Education at St Ann’s Church.

Q. It sounds like you have always stayed very busy. What keeps you going?

A. The people around me. This beautiful community. The memory of my mother telling me that I could do anything. The memory of my father who thought I was smart. The knowledge that I had four grandmothers in my family tree whose husbands died when they were young, and they kept running the plantation, or the business of their husbands and raised their children, and never re-married. That, and an abiding faith, has always made me strong.

Q. What is your goal for the future?

A. This is the future, and I am living my goal.

Q. What else would you like to share about yourself?

A. I am working on my family genealogy when I can, and I want my niece and I to be members of The Daughters of the American Revolution. I am a lover and collector of antiques. Art festivals are my passion.

Q. I never knew so many amazing things about you or your family before you! Is there a fun fact that few people know about you – as a woman or as a professional that you’d like to share?

A. Women should strive for all the education they can get. Then, married or single, a woman should make it her goal to be financially independent enough to support herself and her children.