Mary Wiegele

Tom Wiegele worked 40 hours a week loading trucks during his first two years of college. He dropped out for a two-year stint in the Army because he could not keep up with his studies or his bills. He then returned to Marquette and, with the help of the G.I. Bill, was able to finish his bachelor’s degree. Seven years later, with a family of five kids, loads of loans, and amazing grit, he returned to school to work toward his Ph.D. The support that he had is no longer available to today’s students.Through high school and college, Mary Wiegele focused on a career of writing, editing, and publishing. Family responsibilities intervened, but by 1970, with her youngest child starting kindergarten, she began to reach for that career at NIU. She started part time in the College of Education, worked for many years in the Graduate School, and ended up in the NIU Office of Publications as a full-time writer/editor. Now retired, she writes for personal pleasure and continues to enjoy her far-flung family of five married children and 13 grandchildren.