Fox Point’s Mary Emory is being recognized by the French government for her work promoting all things French.

On May 1, French Ambassador Francois Delattre will present La Médaille d’Or du Mérite Frencophone award to Mary Emory of Fox Point. She is being honored for promoting the French language in the United States and for working throughout this country and France in the development of a magazine with worldwide distribution. The presentation will be made at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The award was created in 1916 in Paris by Raymond Poincaré, president of the French Republic. It celebrates individuals who have rendered exceptional service in areas of foreign affairs, interior defense and education. This is only the third time someone from the United States has received this award.

Emory has been an active member of Alliance Française de Milwaukee for more than 30 years. She has served as president as well as board member. "The Alliance Française de Milwaukee has become a dynamic chapter," she says. Under her leadership a permanent school was established. In 1999 Emory was named Chevalier dans l’Ordre du Palmes Académiques.

She has accepted the vice presidency of the Federation Alliance Française USA board, which now has 130 chapters. "Who knew," she says, "that three years of French at Whitefish Bay High School, majoring in French at the University of Wisconsin and getting my teacher’s degree there would become a way of life for me?"

She has successfully continued the work of the American Alliance Française chapers as editor-in-chief of the federation forum newsletter. With a team across the United States, she also served as editor-in-chief of Fédération of Alliance Française le Magazine, a glossy magazine with international circulation. Emory organized and hosted local and international Alliance Française conventions.

In 2009 she joined the founding board of directors of American Friends of the Musée Orsay that celebrated its successful formal gala at the Paris Museum last November.

Through her work, she has made an impact on Alliance Française members and the American Association of Teachers of French, students, teachers and travelers.