Wechter, Nell Wise, 1913-1989

Nell Wise Wechter (1913-1989) was born and raised in Stumpy Point, North Carolina. She attended East Carolina College, where she received her Diploma, 1933, B.S., 1951, and M.A., 1952. Wechter also attended Guilford College and UNC Greensboro in pursuance of graduate degrees in English and Social Studies, and she later worked towards a Ph.D. at UNC Chapel Hill (1956-1964).

She taught in North Carolina as a teacher for 30 years and authored several books, The Romance of Juniper River (1937), Taffy of Torpedo Junction (1957), Betsy Dowdy’s Ride (1960), The Mighty Midgetts of Chicamacomico (1974), and Swamp Girl (1971). Wechter won numerous regional and state awards for her work, including the George Washington Gold Medal (1950) from the Freedoms Foundation, American Association of University Women Award for Best Young People’s Book by a North Carolina author (1957), National Teachers Medal (1958) from the Freedoms Foundation, and Catholic Children’s Book Club of America (1960). Wechter donated all of her original manuscripts to Joyner Library of East Carolina University in August of 1971 with “the hope that they may be of some help to other writers coming along.”

Wechter married her husband, Robert William Wechter, in 1943. Together they had one daughter and two grandchildren, who live in Atlanta, Georgia. Wechter and her husband retired and lived on her plantation home on the Pamlico Sound, where they enjoyed gardening and participating in their local Methodist church.