Sample Platinum Award Winning Nomination - Marilyn Wing (2006)

Nominated by: Jerry Wing

WHY MY NOMINEE DESERVES TO WIN…

In the competition for the Covenant Platinum Award 2006, I nominate Marilyn Wing;

• a living example of top physical and mental fitness that allows her to perform strenuous and unusual activities at her age of 77.

• a dynamic force that has led her accountant to tell clients - who bemoan retirement - about Marilyn's prowess and zest for living and what she does about it.

• a woman who is close to completing a book she's writing about a young woman's adventure-packed life in the wilds of Venezuela. It's her true story as she lived it.

• a woman who enjoys academics and has studied creative writing in Knoxville from a well-known Knoxville writer and is registered in an Advanced computer course at Pellissippi. The course was scheduled for May but postponed until July.

• a woman whose record of volunteerism and community involvement is long and crosses time zones.

Marilyn Wing is my friend and dear wife. Now comes the fun part of this essay, citing the examples to validate the above listed achievements. I'll start the story shortly after Marilyn and I were married in 1997, almost 9 years ago. She was 68 years old. It was then that she asked me what it was that attracted me to her. I answered, "You're different." She was then and still is.

I did not know Marilyn before 1997, so I invite you to look at some of her accomplishments and activities since that time. Because Venezuela has been an important part of her life, citations about her volunteerism, creative arts, cultural pursuits, human care and adventure in Venezuela today appear in all sections of this essay.

About Health and Fitness
You don't start to be fit at age 68, so we can safely assume she came into her senior years in good condition. Her Knoxville doctor predicts she'll keep going well into her 80's. She enjoys walking, but most frequently, in the interest of time, she walks on her treadmill. Having been a dancer and athlete who enjoyed tennis, golf and swimming, she prefers to work out with stretching and floor exercises. She's proud of her good health… she takes only one pill daily for arthritis and one hormone every other day. Her medical prescription bill is $104 per year. It's lots less than the bill she pays the Vet for her cat, Mickey!

At age 70, Marilyn learned to scuba dive and made her open water dive in the South Pacific off Tahiti. That same year she learned to kayak and we began paddling on rivers in Tennessee. She has kayaked in the South Pacific, in the Pacific off the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica, and in the Sea of Cortez off Baja. Maybe you've seen her car around Knoxville and environs - it's easily identifiable with racks for our kayaks on top. You might even see the kayaks secured in the racks. She has white water rafted in Tennessee and Peru, ridden the rapids in a curiara (Indian dugout) on the Carrao River in the jungles of Venezuela and hiked its vast savannah lands.

Marilyn is a healthy traveler imbued with the spirit of discovery and adventure. She has hiked Machu Picchu in Peru, walked the Great Wall in China, experienced a "white out" at the top of the world in Barrow, Alaska, flown in a hot air balloon over the Serengeti during each of two photo safaris to Kenya, ridden a camel in Egypt, enjoys horse-back riding in Northwest Canada, snow-shoeing any place there's snow, but also enjoys the tame and serene beauty of Antarctica at the bottom of the world so much so that she's made that trip twice. Much nearer home, she has bicycled the 17 mile Virginia Creeper Trail in Virginia with a group from church.

Her favorite country is Venezuela and while she'll tell you it's the untamed beauty and mesmerizing jungle she loves, I say it's because the plane we charter for the trips in Venezuela is a twin engine Piper Aztek which she co-pilots. Yes, at age 74 she was issued her medical certificate to fly a plane and learned to fly a single engine Cessna 150 at Sporty's flight academy in Cincinnati, Ohio. Now that's good health!

About Creativity, Academic and Intellectual Pursuit
Marilyn's always like to write, but wait a minute… in this essay, we're only looking at the senior Marilyn. Having a thrilling true story to tell you about her life as a young bride living in the untamed wilderness in Venezuela for almost seven years, she returned to writing classes in Knoxville to brush up her writing skills in preparation to write her book, BLUE SKIES, GREEN HELL. The true adventure about life, death, joy, and happiness, it is being edited by Don Williams, a well-known Knoxville News Sentinel columnist. They hope it will be completed and published next year.

Williams encouraged her to write a travel article about Venezuela which she has done, but before she submits it for publication, she'll make one more trip there to be sure everything she writes about this beautiful country is still appropriate. As you know, there is some political unrest in Venezuela and although it has not put us in harms way during recent visits, she want to check it out once more before submitting this creative effort to the KNS. We have reservations to visit Venezuela this summer.

In May 2004, she was invited by the VAAUW (Venezuelan American Association of University Women) to return to Caracas and address the members on its 50th anniversary. (Marilyn had joined VAAUW when she lived in Venezuela years ago). An account of her visit appeared in The Caracas Daily Journal and a copy is attached.

Marilyn plays piano every day not only to help keep her arthritis fingers flexible, but just because she loves playing. She also enjoys writing music and recently wrote words and music for a song performed by Pastor Doug Romig and members of the congregation at a church rally. Music is a very important part of her life; both classical and pop.

Her interest in geology is evidenced by her ever-growing collection of almost 100 samples of sand and stone from around the world which are displayed at our house and have been the subject of presentations she has made to various groups. Some of the samples have been examined for content by the personnel at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge. Such things as iron and low grade radioactivity have been identified.

About Volunteerism and Community Involvement
Marilyn has been a volunteer at the American Museum of Science and Energy (AMSE) for 8 years. She volunteers one afternoon a week and is frequently called on to "work" special events at the museum. For example, she was a featured speaker at AMSE's special event, FLIGHTS OF FANCY. The title of her power point presentation was, "So You Want To Be a Pilot." She's also the newsletter editor for NARFE, an organization for retired Federal employees.

Marilyn has been a frequent guest speaker at church groups and women's clubs around Knoxville, Norris and Oak Ridge where she regales the audiences with tales of adventure. She speaks about the culture in China, the wildlife in Kenya, the Venezuelan geology and recently, dressed in her Antarctic cold weather gear she spoke to 210 second graders and their teachers in the Cedar Bluff Elementary School about glaciers, icebergs and penguins in Antarctica. The kids screamed with delight and I've got that all on video. Priceless.

She is active in her church and is currently the Director of Stewardship, Chair of the Committee to Review the Constitution and Bylaws (this three year effort is expected to conclude within 4-6 months), plays in the hand bell choir, and is the church's LCEF rep. (LCEF is an investment Ministry of the Lutheran church). She also mows the church lawn on a regularly scheduled basis and is on call as a substitute.

During the past winter, for the church's community service program to which the public is invited at no charge, she arranged for guest speakers from the local medical community to speak on matters of good health (At Home First Aid, Diabetes and Stress) and from the Young-Williams Animal Shelter in Knoxville and UT Vet School to speak on care of domestic animals (Cold-Weather Care of Animals, Dog Bites Prevention and Knoxville Animal Control). She also arranged to thrill military veterans by having Ed Harrell, author of the book, OUT OF THE DEPTHS, as a guest speaker at her church's community service program to which the public was invited. Harrell is a survivor of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

She organized a Wellness Festival for church people and also invited the public to avail themselves of free basic medical tests.

As a very special and person human care ministry, we visit the Ye'Kuana tribe of indigenous people who live in the remote Amazon Basin in Venezuela. At our own expense, we have made several trips there and another is planned for this summer. We load the twin Piper with clothing, school supplies, medical supplies, batteries, fishing line and other necessities. We have given these delightful people who live a stop out of the Stone Age a treadle sewing machine, fabric needles and scissors and now one young Indian girl makes clothes for her tribal family. We took a set of woodworking tools for the men who carve beautiful animals of teak. (Photographs of our Indian friends and tribal village are available).

At the Indian village of about 50 people, we stay in a mud hut with a dirt floor, no running water, no electricity, no phones, bathe in the river, sleep in hammocks and love the whole experience. Marilyn speaks Spanish and converses with the Chief and tribesmen who speak Spanish.

Many things taken to the Ye'Kuanas were given by friends in her home church Christus Victor Lutheran Church, friends at Grace Lutheran Church, Knoxville and St. Marks Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas.

Marilyn enjoys social outings with a group of Regal Red Hatters and church friends and admittedly spends too much time at the computer.

I wish I could tell you more about what Marilyn has done in her lifetime, but I have limited this only to her major activities since we have know each other. Ask Marilyn what she's going to do next and she'll likely tell you, "I don't know what I'll do when I grow up".

Thank you for your consideration of Marilyn, a remarkable woman and worthy candidate.