Wise, Ozeline

Ozeline Barrett (Pearson) Wise (1903-1988) was born in Worcester, Mass., the daughter of Rev. William B. and Frances (Gale) Lavinia Pearson. She was educated in the public schools in Cambridge, Mass., where her father was minister of the Saint Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1931, she married John D. Wise; they had one son, Hubert B. Wise. During World War II she worked for the U.S. Navy, both in ship fittings and in personnel. After the war, she became the first black woman to be employed by the banking department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Wise served as trustee, Sunday school teacher, and chair of the building fund for St. Paul A.M.E. Church, and was a charter member in 1949 of the Citizens' Charitable Health Association, an organization supporting hospitals and institutes for disease prevention. She was the sister of Satyra (Pearson) Bennett, a graduate of Wilberforce University and a linotype operator in Boston; they worked together for many civic and charitable causes.