Mary Hanes Wharton’s photo was in the newspaper several times over the years that she lived in Winston-Salem. She was born in Salem, in 1892, to Andrew Thomas and Lucy Lawrence Hanes. Mary was one of eight children, seven of them girls. Mary attended the local schools and graduated from The State Normal and Industrial College in Greensboro.
The photo shown above was published in the Twin City Sentinel in August 1981 because she was saying her farewell to the city where she was born. She was leaving town, headed to Mobile, Alabama, to live with her son, Bill. Her plan was to move into the new Presbyterian-sponsored home in Mobile when it was finished.
After graduating from college, Mary taught school in Forsyth County, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro. She married William Lacy Wharton in 1918. Her sons were born in 1923 and 1926, so she stopped teaching but never surrendered her interest in education.
Her interest involved concern for the low funding of education. She began working toward raising funds, along with parents in the Ardmore area, to outfit the auditorium of Ardmore School. From this work came the organization of the first parent-teacher association (PTA) in Winston-Salem. As other PTAs were formed, Mary recommended that a council be formed of these school associations. The council members elected Mary to be the first council president, and she served for three years.
Mary continued her efforts to raise money during the depression, when funds were even tighter. In 1935 she was elected to serve on the Winston-Salem School Board, the first woman to serve on the board.
During World War II she was an organizer of the Children’s Theatre, to provide entertainment for children. She also started the Child Study Clubs in the home, for providing information on raising children correctly. The local club became a model for programs throughout the United States.
Mary became concerned that children were not prepared sufficiently for school. She started a kindergarten in her home at 832 Lockland Avenue in 1930. The kindergarten began with seven students and grew to 18 students. The kindergarten closed in 1960.
The photo above shows some members of the Winston-Salem Civic Betterment Committee in April 1950. The 13-member committee was charged with studying problems leading to a concentration of crime and vice. The five-month investigation resulted in the committee preparing a 27-page report. The report was submitted to the mayor, and made recommendations for curbing the crime and the vice. Some of the members of the committee are: Whit East Sr., Leo Minder, Justice Tucker, Mary Wharton, Charlie Church, and Charlie Fort. Mayor Marshall Kurfees is seated at the desk.
While Mary was reminiscing about her impending move to Mobile, she was thankful that she was able to live in her home at the age of 88. Her husband died in 1970. But Mary leaves us with a mystery. Did she ever move to Mobile? She died in 1987 at the age of 94, at the Triad United Methodist Home in Winston-Salem. And, she is listed as living at the Methodist Home from 1982-1987, so she must have changed her plans.
Photographs courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
