Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of seven stories that will appear daily in the News Journal on the members of the 2018 Class of the Outstanding Women of Clinton County.
For her energetic and fruitful leadership in “an amazing number of organizations,” Mary Ann Raizk has been nominated to the Outstanding Women of Clinton County Class of 2018.
This retired teacher is described by her nominator as a “stepper-upper” and “a compassionate and effective civic leader as well as a loving wife, mother, and grandmother … firmly rooted in the life of this community.”
A native of Wilmington, Raizk received a B.A. in Elementary Education in 1972 from Capital University, where she served as president of her sorority. She went on to earn an M.A. in Reading Supervision from Wright State University (1977).
On returning to Wilmington, she quickly became president of the Jaycee-ettes, who supported the local Jaycees with their community projects.
Raizk spent her professional career in the Blanchester Local Schools, where she taught various grade levels and served as a member of curriculum and grade-level teams and as president of the Blanchester Education Association. She started the Parent Teacher Organization at Main St. Middle School and was its first president.
Upon retirement, she became secretary, then vice president, then president of the Clinton County Retired Teachers Association.
Her dedication to education is also reflected in a lifelong commitment to Wilmington College, culminating in her current position of Trustee.
She has been on an advisory committee for the college’s Education Department, has been a Cooperating Teacher for student teachers, and now serves on both the Student Life Committee and the Building and Grounds Committee (having critically assisted in the college’s two most recent major building projects: the Center for Sports Science and the Center for the Sciences and Agriculture).
She has also performed in several Summer Festival of the Arts theatrical productions, including a major role in Sunday in the Park with George.
A birthright Quaker, Raizk has also “stepped up” to positions of responsibility in the Wilmington Meeting. These include Clerk of the Meeting, Recording Clerk, Trustee of the Meeting, board member of the Wilmington Friends Nursery School, member of the Christian Education Committee, and Co-Coordinator of Quaker Knoll Day Camp. She has taught Sunday School and participates in both the vocal and bell choirs.
Currently president of the Wilmington Meeting’s United Society of Friends Women, she was recently named president of USFW for the Yearly Meeting, which includes Meetings from Southwest Ohio and Tennessee. Within the Yearly Meeting, she has served on many committees, including the Youth Committee, Peace and Social Concerns, and the Executive Committee.
She coordinates the Wilmington Meeting’s support of Our Father’s Kitchen and the Clinton County Youth Council, and has presided over the board of the Clinton County Adult Day Care Center housed at the Quaker Church.
Following her retirement, she has been secretary and president of the Six and Twenty Book Club; corresponding secretary, vice president, and president of the Philanthropic Educational Organization Sisterhood; and a member of Wilmington High School’s Scholastic Achievement Council.
Raizk was Education Co-Chair for the Clinton County Bicentennial Committee, and is the author of a book, Happy Birthday, Ohio (2003), which her daughter illustrated.
Tickets for the Outstanding Women of Clinton County luncheon to be held at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, March 3 at the Roberts Centre are $25 (cash or check accepted). Reservations can be made at the Wilmington News Journal, 761 S. Nelson Ave., Wilmington, OH 45177. The News Journal’s office hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. If you have any questions, please call 937-382-2574. Reservations will be accepted through Feb. 28.
