A TRAILBLAZING LIFE

When Eleanor Roosevelt visited Milwaukee in 1952, she was greeted at the depot by a plethora of Wisconsin dignitaries and journalists eager to have the ear of first chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. What these local leaders didn’t know was that Mrs. Roosevelt had already given an interview to a young reporter from the Milwaukee Journal, Mary Louise Dole, while riding the train from Chicago to Milwaukee.

Wanting a shot at interviewing the former First Lady and knowing no such opportunity would be handed to her, Mary travelled to Chicago and managed to get on the same train, into the same compartment, nabbing a seat next to the former First Lady.

This trailblazing spirit guided Mary throughout her decades-long career in journalism, even though she didn’t even get a byline for her efforts that day.

Mary died at her home in Evanston on July 12, leaving behind family, friends and an impressive resume. A longtime resident of the North Shore, she and her late husband, the Rev. Clifford Buzard, moved to Westminster Place in Evanston in the early 1990s after living in Wilmette for more than 20 years, where they raised two sons.

Mary was born in Milwaukee on May 7, 1925, to Louise (née Voight) and Osmyn Dole. An only child, she was treasured by her parents, aunt and uncle, and both sets of grandparents. Her father served as a Navy ensign in World War I and later worked in sales, insurance, and education. She described her mother as a striking woman “who looked fabulous in a cloche, chemise and opera-length pearls”—high fashion in the Roaring Twenties.

Always a wordsmith, Mary wrote that her maternal grandfather resembled the gentleman on the Smiths Brothers cough drops box, while her father’s father looked like Santa Claus without a beard. She looked up to her paternal grandmother, Mary Rosalia Early Dole, and by all accounts they had more in common than just their first name. She wrote that her Grandmother Dole “was an articulate, outspoken, well-informed woman who could hold her own in any male-dominated conversation.”

Mary “discovered the magic of words and the challenge of writing” while a student at Lake Forest High School, which she attended when her father was stationed at the Great Lakes Navy Base. After graduating from LFHS in 1943, she enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1947 with a degree in journalism and advertising. Already employed at the Milwaukee Journal by the time the graduation ceremony was held, Mary attended it as a reporter with a press badge and camera rather than wearing cap and gown.

During sophomore year, in 1945, her father was stationed at Treasure Island Naval Base in San Francisco Bay. While visiting her parents over the summer and working a civilian job at the base, Mary met and became engaged to “a dashing young Naval officer,” but she broke it off after visiting him at his Texas home and realizing he didn’t want his wife to pursue a professional career.

Fortunately, Mary’s second, equally dashing fiancé, Cliff, had no such expectation. They met in 1947 on the first day of her job as a general assignment reporter for the Milwaukee Journal, which was also the first day of Cliff ’s job there. A young woman being employed by a major metropolitan daily right out of J-school was almost unheard of in those days. She worked on the city desk for a year before becoming the primary feature writer for the women’s section, traveling the U.S. to cover topics such as women succeeding in male-dominated careers.

Cliff left journalism for a career in ministry, studying at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston. The two were married in 1953 and enjoyed 41 years together until he died in 1994. During the early years of their marriage Mary worked part-time while raising their sons, John-Paul, born in 1955, and David Andrew, born in 1963. Her jobs included being PR manager for Seabury-Western and part-time correspondent for Mademoiselle magazine.

After David was old enough for preschool, Mary went to work at the Episcopal Diocese in Chicago, writing, editing, and producing its monthly magazine, Advance. Later jobs included working as a writer/editor for the Pioneer Press and Director of Communications for Kendall College. From 1973 to 1985, she led Northwestern University’s publications department, retiring as University Editor.

She was the first woman to head a publications department of a major university and the first woman to be elected president of the Big Ten Publications Managers Association.

Retirement came before she was ready, due to low-back pain exacerbated by stress. At age 60, instead of working at a job she excelled at, her efforts were directed at managing pain. She had surgery and worked with physical therapists, went on walks, and learned to swim to heal her back. She also had to contend with the emotional lows caused by lack of status and purpose. She called this “the pits.”

But she didn’t stay retired or in “the pits” for long. Determined to enter the “older generation” with grace, humor, and dignity, she found meaningful work as a volunteer for her parish and as a paid freelance editor—developing periodicals for the Center for Ethics and Corporate Policy in Chicago and for Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. At Westminster Place, she served on many committees and boards and edited its award-winning publication The Chimes.

Mary is survived by her sons John Paul (wife Linda Buzard) and David Andrew; four grandchildren, Clementine Elisabeth Mary Holman (husband Daniel Holman), Stephen Michael Buzard, Victor Clifford Buzard (wife Kameron Delosantos), and Katherine Elizabeth Buzard (husband Robert Grisbrook); and three great-grandchildren, Oliver Charles Holman, Caroline Natsuku Delosantos Buzard, and Louis David Buzard.