Mary Eleanor Wickersham

Mary Eleanor Wickersham, 72, died on January 24, 2023, leaving behind an adventure-filled life, a wonderful family, and a tremendous professional and personal legacy.  The second child of the late Dr. and Mrs. William Rawlings, Sr., of Sandersville, Georgia, Mary Eleanor was married to David Wickersham for 49 years before his untimely death in 2017.  Together they raised two children: Eleanor (Nathaniel) Cates of Atlanta and Dr. Penn (Valerie Reynolds) Wickersham of San Antonio, Texas and were the proud grandparents of Kay and Will Wickersham and Nora and Rawlings Cates. She was a member of Sandersville United Methodist Church and Dunwoody UMC.

Over her career, Mary Eleanor broke the adage: she proved herself to be both a jack of all trades and a master of them.  Until they sold the business in 1993, she and David along with Bobby and Ree Garrett owned and operated several small-town Georgia newspapers, including the Gibson Record, the Sandersville Progress, the Cochran Journal, and the Wrightsville Headlight, of which Mary Eleanor was the editor for many years.  She later worked with geriatric providers and nursing homes, developing expertise which led to Governor Perdue’s hiring her as his health and human services policy advisor in 2007.  Through her work in the Governor’s office, she was instrumental in founding SOURCE, an innovative in-home services Medicaid program designed to allow older adults to receive healthcare services without having to live in a nursing home.  In 2010, the Arc of Georgia – a non-profit group that advocates for the rights of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities – named her its Advocate of the Year.

A life-long learner, Mary Eleanor held a certificate in ethics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master’s in public policy from Georgia College and State University.  While in her late 50s, she obtained her doctorate in public administration from Valdosta State University and spent a decade teaching and publishing there and at College of Coastal Georgia , where she helped her students publish a book on environmental policy.  Along the way and after retiring, she regularly worked as a grant writer and community assessment provider for nonprofits, hospital systems, and Head Start programs across the state.

More than anything else, however, Mary Eleanor loved nature, travel, and her family.  She was an avid conservationist, an amateur geologist, an accomplished writer, a finder of fossils, a friend to many, and a second mother to her younger siblings.  She was also a fighter.  She accomplished all these things despite having been born with a kidney disorder that required her to undergo a kidney transplant in 2015.

In addition to her children and grandchildren, Mary Eleanor is survived by her five brothers and sisters: Dr. William (Beth) Rawlings, Jr. of Sandersville; Dr. Jean (Joe) Sumner, of Wrightsville;  Dr. Joe Newsom Rawlings, of Sandersville; Ben (Cathy) Rawlings, of Damascus, MD; and Tom (Kay) Rawlings, of Atlanta; as well as sisters-in-law Laura Toburen and Kathy (John) Grosshans; and many nephews and nieces.

A memorial service will be held at 11 am on Saturday, January 28, 2023, at Sandersville United Methodist Church.  Visitation with the family will occur in the church’s Heritage Hall beginning at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you make contributions to the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, https://www.ogeecheeriverkeeper.org/

May & Smith Funeral Directors in Sandersville is in charge of these arrangements .