Life Stories

The crowd anticipated the next words from the master of ceremonies as he was about to reveal the first prize winner of $100.

With my surname of “Wiseman,” and an inquisitive nature, I was predisposed to carry on the intellectual pursuit of excellence in high school academics.

It all started with an innocent complaint from a bored eight-year-old on a summer day.

Overarching—an interesting word, calls for evaluating, culling and eventually a conclusion of mental and emotional consensus. There can be overarching good and overarching bad, but overarching in Webster’s mind must be “dominating or embracing all else.”

Watershed, splitting of the sea, ascending from the pit—all metaphors expressing dramatic change. So also was my Hawaii experience. It’s like my life can be expressed pre-October 1973 and post-October 1973. It all happened on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Circumstances sometimes seem to create what I call a Jobian scenario—a script written by the author of the book of Job. Following is my story outline in a Job-like context.

As a young mother in the mid-sixties, I had plenty of adventure and work to keep me busy, but one day my fertile mind began to conceive an idea. Could I impersonate another individual, go to my husband’s real estate office, and present myself as an authentic client named Harriet Adams?

In 1946 on a 160 acre Iowa farm, ten miles from town, what could entertain a 16 year old? No radio, no TV, no cell phone, no cassette players—cassettes and eight tracks were still years away.