Mary, as much as any of her siblings, is a perfect example of the genetics and upbringing provided by her parents, Del and Taffy Wilber. A strong athlete who excelled at basketball, she has also always been a devoted baseball fan. By her teenage years, Mary had no doubt seen more ball games, either by her father’s side on scouting trips or in the grandstand with family members as they watched him manage, than an average male sees in a lifetime. Like her mother, she was also a groundbreaker in the communications arena, making her mark as early as high school when she formed and launched the first student newspaper at St. Joseph’s Academy, a prestigious all-girls school in suburban St. Louis.
After graduation, Mary began her university studies abroad, at Harlaxton Study Centre near Grantham, England and then lived in Arbroath, Scotland for two years before returning to the United States. Her five children have all graduated with college degrees, and her son Ewan displayed the family athletic traits by earning a college basketball scholarship.
Mary’s business career has, not surprisingly, been as successful as all of her other pursuits. Over the past 10 years, she and her husband Lonnie have firmly established themselves in the upper tier among real estate brokers in Sarasota, Fla. They remain avid baseball and college basketball fans, and devoted parents.
"There is no substitute for Excellence – not even success. Success is tricky, perishable and often outside our control; the pursuit of success makes a poor cornerstone, especially for a whole personality. Excellence is dependable, lasting and largely an issue within our own control; pursuit of excellence, in and for itself, is the best of foundations,” The Heart of the Order, by Thomas Boswell (Doubleday, 1989).