Bumps Along the Way<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve had it so easy,\u201d Mary Ruth said, \u201cwhile some of my friends have had it so hard.\u201d Perhaps easy is in the eye of the beholder. For instance\u2026<\/p>\n
Dr. Wisehart battled cancer three times (1987, 1993, 2001), undergoing chemotherapy twice and surgery once. Shortly after retiring from WNAC in 1998, she was mugged in Uruguay. The thief stole her purse, passport, credit cards, traveler\u2019s checks, and broke her left wrist.<\/p>\n
Two years later, she fell and broke her left arm, requiring shoulder replacement. During the recovery period, she typed emails one-handed using all caps.<\/p>\n
There have been other bumps and surgeries, including a burst appendix at age six. However the hardest thing she ever did was go into her sister\u2019s (Marie) apartment and remove her belongings after she was killed at age 42 in an automobile accident.<\/p>\n
Single Women Who Retire<\/strong><\/p>\nDeciding that she would probably not marry but live as a single person, Dr. Wisehart took the advice of long-time friend (Mrs. Mary Welch): \u201cAs a single woman, live as though you\u2019ll get married, but save as though you\u2019ll never get married.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her early retirement funds were channeled through her 30-year employer, Welch College. When she came to WNAC in 1985, she enrolled in the Free Will Baptist retirement plan, subsequently settling her account in 2003 and choosing a single life annuity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was only in the plan 19 years,\u201d she said, \u201cbut the annuity checks are a big help. More women should consider participating in this program.\u201d<\/p>\n
She selected WNAC as annuity beneficiary after her death. \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d she laughed, \u201cthe annuity is not so large that they\u2019ll be tempted to kill me in case I live too long!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mary\u2019s Way<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s ahead for Mary Wisehart? She\u2019s bright, she\u2019s curious about life, and her schedule is demanding. For the past three years, she has served as a volunteer greeter at Nashville\u2019s Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art and does volunteer work in the gift shop.<\/p>\n
She zips around Music City keeping business appointments and networking with friends, and takes an active role caring for 89-year-old former WNAC executive secretary-treasurer Cleo Pursell. She keeps her hand in the field of journalism, and she\u2019s the nursing home volunteer ombudsman for Middle Tennessee. She has volunteered in the women and teen prisons, and traveled from Europe to Africa, Cuba to Brazil. There\u2019s more, but you get the idea.<\/p>\n
Cancer can\u2019t stop her, a mugger didn\u2019t deter her, and deadlines don\u2019t frighten her. Since she\u2019s not a fainter, Mary Wisehart simply exercises more will power and gets the job done. That\u2019s Mary\u2019s Way.<\/p>\n
About the writer:<\/strong> The late Dr. Jack Williams was editor of Contact<\/em> magazine for 30 years and a long-time member of the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Fast Facts<\/strong><\/p>\nCollege Nickname: Squirrel<\/p>\n
Favorite Book: The Wounded Healer<\/p>\n
Most Outstanding Student: Free Will Baptist Bible College<\/p>\n
Writer: Sunday School and Church Training curriculum, Depth (devotional booklet)<\/p>\n
Member: Cofer \u2019s Chapel FWB Church, Nashville, Tennessee<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Education<\/strong><\/p>\nPh.D., George Peabody College, 1976<\/p>\n
M.A., George Peabody College, 1961<\/p>\n
B.A., George Peabody College, 1960<\/p>\n
B.A., Free Will Baptist Bible College, 1955<\/p>\n
Diploma, Couch High School (Myrtle, Missouri), 1950<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Positions Held<\/strong><\/p>\nWNAC Executive Secretary-Treasurer<\/p>\n
Free Will Baptist Historical Commission, Chair and Member<\/p>\n
President, Cumberland District WAC<\/p>\n
WNAC Field Worker<\/p>\n
President, Cumberland District WAC<\/p>\n
Faculty, Welch College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[Adapted by permission from an article published in the December 2007-January 2008 issue of ONE Magazine,] \u201cI moved so often I felt like a checker!\u201d That\u2019s how Dr. Mary Ruth Wisehart described her early years as a single teacher living in campus housing at Welch College (then Free Will Baptist Bible College). \u201cWe always had to pack up everything when the semester ended and we went home. We never knew where we\u2019d be living when we got back.\u201d Perhaps that\u2019s why Dr. Mary (as many call her) and two other single women employed at Welch pooled their resources in 1969 and invested in a West Nashville house not far from the campus. Myrtle Salutatorian Life for Mary Wisehart began in 1932 on an Oregon County farm near Myrtle, Missouri. \u201cI grew up in a house with six sisters,\u201d she said. \u201cMy dad was a man of few words. He was quiet, steady, and never raised his voice at anybody. Mother and Dad taught us to make our own decisions and deal with the consequences, which meant that if I bought the wrong dress, I still had to wear it.\u201d After one of her sisters married, Mary Ruth\u2019s dad […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8360"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8368,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8360\/revisions\/8368"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nafwb.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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