Your mother was in the forefront of developing the profession.  Social workers existed in the 1800s but just prior to your mother's time there was a real controversy over whether Social Work was a profession.  Social workers set about defining the work, educating practitioners and envisioning the future when your mother was entering the field.  It seems only fitting that your niece attended the first School of Social Work.  What a wonderful history of the profession lived out in your family!

I come from a fairly large family, spread out all over the N.American continent. Long after my  career in counseling and social work was underway I found out that I had an aunt and several cousins who had been working with immigrants, domestic abuse victims, etc. And the family tree was chock-full of counselors, ministers, and teachers.