Treasurer served Defiance County

8/11/2004

DEFIANCE - Jean Wiseman, 77, a former Defiance County treasurer, died Monday in St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Toledo.

The family did not know the cause of death.

"She was a big-hearted woman with an iron will," her husband of 59 years, Paul "Hank" Wiseman said.

Mrs. Wiseman, a Leipsic, Ohio, native, graduated from Continental (Ohio) High School in 1945 and married Mr. Wiseman later that year. She was a clerk at a credit bureau in Defiance for a couple of years and then became a stay-at-home mother, her daughter Sue Boomer said

In 1957, Mrs. Wiseman went back to work and was a clerk at Defiance County Airport until 1962 when she became a deputy treasurer for Defiance County.

In 1964, she was elected county treasurer and served until 1976, when she retired.

Ms. Boomer remembered that her mother, a Democrat, bonded with other Democratic women running for office.

"She was very helpful; she helped me through the whole campaign when I ran for office in 1980," Josephine Leach, a former clerk of courts for Defiance County, said. "She was a very friendly and efficient person and she was well liked by people in Defiance."

In retirement, Mrs. Wiseman liked to spend time with her children and grandchildren and took winter trips to Arizona with her husband. She enjoyed golfing and playing bridge.

Mrs. Wiseman was a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church, Defiance, the Defiance Hospital Auxiliary, and the Order of Eastern Star.

Surviving are her husband, Paul "Hank" Wiseman; daughters, Vicki Helmke and Sue Boomer; sister, Maxine Ketner; brothers, Donald VanDemark and Daniel VanDemark; five grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.

Services will be at 1 p.m. tomorrow in St. Paul United Methodist Church, Defiance. The body will be in Mast-Mock-Hoffman Funeral Home, Defiance, after 2 p.m. today.

The family suggests tributes to St. Paul United Methodist Church.