John Harvey Wise, 1917–2003

John Harvey Wise, the third child and only son of George Franklin Wise and Bertha Abigail Loy Wise, was born 21 December 1917 in Cairo, Illinois, where his father, George Franklin, had been sent to head a branch of Brown’s Business College.

After the family returned to St. Louis, Missouri, John attended first grade at Garfield grade school and grades two through eight at Kinloch School. While attending Normandy High School, John played cornet in the senior band. In 1935, he was on the varsity wrestling team and won third place in the state meet in the 135-pound class. John graduated in 1936, took several commercial courses at Brown’s Business College, and then worked as an accountant for H. Wenzel Tent and Awning Company, located at 1035 Paul Street in St. Louis, until he was drafted. In 1940, John lived with his parents and sister Alice in St. Louis at the home his family built at 8913 Flavia Avenue.

In November 1941, John joined the U.S. Army. He was inducted 1 December 1941 and sent to Camp Barkley in Texas, where he was placed in a medical training battalion. On 20 January 1942 in Abilene, Texas, John married Mary Lucille “Lu” Zumwalt (12 May 1923–12 March 2001), the daughter of James Preston Zumwalt and Virginia Lucille Gaskill.

John entered the army as a private, but by 1944 he had become a staff sergeant. He sent a Christmas card that year to his sister, saying he was all right and still in Normandy, France. After the war ended, John continued to serve in the army. While John and Lu lived at 8913 Flavia, their son, John Denton Wise, was born on 28 March 1947. In September 1948, John and Lu divorced. John was awarded full custody of his son who thereafter lived with John’s sister, Anna Marie Wise Bueltmann, and her family, a condition of the custody award.

On 7 November 1951, at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church in St. Louis, John married Marguerite Beary (2 February 1907–4 July 1994), daughter of Thomas Reuben Beary and Mary Frances Lowcock. In September 1952, First Lieutenant John Wise, then with the ambulance company of the 24th Medical Battalion, received orders to serve in Korea and Japan. Marguerite joined him a bit later.

In the late 1950s, they lived in Heidelberg, Germany, where John was assigned duty. When John and Marguerite returned to St. Louis, they lived at 3520 West Place. John was a major when he retired from the army. He then worked as a civil servant for the army until 1974 when he moved to Port Richey, Florida. John had a quiet, witty sense of humor and a kind heart. In Florida, he continued to use his accounting skills to help friends and neighbors with taxes and finances. After Marguerite died in 1994, John married Violet Lee (11 May 1916–5 January 2010) on 7 March 1998. Despite serious health problems as he aged, John remained cheerful, continuing to help others. He died 6 February 2003 in Port Richey, Florida.

Written by Faith Stern
May 2025

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