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Contact
Us
- General Information
Telephone (313) 341-4487
Mailing Address
Widows
With Wisdom
c/o His Lovely Wife Ministries
P.O. Box 211018, Detroit, MI 48221
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 5, 2006
ANNOUNCEMENT: The Front Page Story
re-printed with permission from Michigan FrontPAGE's 5/5/06
edition of Telford’s Telescope
Widows With Wisdom by John Telford
Many readers e-mailed me with tributes to my recently-deceased comrade and
fellow youth advocate Ernie Winchester after reading my columns on him in the
Chronicle and the FrontPAGE. Among them was Minister Mary Edwards, widow of the
revered and celebrated Joy of Jesus Ministries founder Eddie Edwards. She asked
me to put her in touch with Ernie Winchester’s widow, Joan. I did, and I also
put her in touch with Beverly Pitts, widow of Jeddie King Pitts, the old Miller
High trackman who died last year. As a serviceman who was undefeated in eleven
professional fights while stationed in Manchester, New Hampshire immediately
following World War II, Jeddie knocked out future heavyweight champion Rocky
Marciano in the Manchester Arena but never was credited for it.
Now Mrs. Winchester and Mrs. Pitts have joined Minister Mary Edwards’
organization, Widows With Wisdom (WWW), a group I wish my mother Helen Telford
could have contributed to and benefited from. She was passionately in love with
my Scotland-born ex-coal miner/prizefighter father, John “Scotty “ Telford, her
husband of 58 years, and when he died in 1987 at 84, she mourned him
inconsolably every single day until her death in 1998 at 91. She never really
recovered from losing him.
There are 11 million widows in the U.S., and that number is growing. Minister
Mary Edwards didn’t know these statistics on July 25, 2004 when the well-known
and well-loved Rev. Eddie Edwards passed suddenly and she found herself having
to live alone and make major decisions that for more than 20 years of marriage
had been shared or handled by her husband. It was a traumatically emotional
learning experience for her, but she soon discovered that there are multitudes
of women like her in Metro Detroit. Statistics show that these widows are the
largest untapped resource in America. A high percentage of them have
self-developed skills that have lain dormant for years.
In August, 2004, immediately following the transition of her husband,
Minister Edwards felt a tug on her heart to start a ministry committed to
opening doors of new opportunities for community service and career skills for
some of these widows. Within 18 months, she had identified over 60 widows in
Detroit who needed to know that life is still worth living.
The mission of WWW is to educate, encourage and embrace women who must learn
how to live alone without their spouses. Speakers are called in each month to
provide career opportunities and legal, financial, physical, emotional, and
spiritual counseling. The group provides a safe and caring environment for these
women.
The WWW support-group meetings are extremely well-attended. The group meets
every third Saturday from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m. at 24400 Civic Center Drive near
Telegraph Road in Southfield, and you don’t have to be a widow to join. The
meetings are open to anyone who cares about the plight of these women and wants
to help. WWW also broadcasts over WLQV, 1500 AM, every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Its
phone number is (248) 663-2363, and its web site is www.widowswithwisdom.org.
Statistics show that the widow population is the most underserved in the
country. Let’s do something here in Detroit to help change that.
 Dr.
John Telford, a retired Rochester deputy superintendent and recent DPS executive
director, was an All-American sprinter in 1957 at WSU, which named him its
Distinguished Alumnus of 2001 for human rights activism. The track at Finney
High School is named for him. E-mail him at john.telford@detroitk12.org.
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