The county’s storyteller: How Lena Wise became central to history
“The Story of Oglethorpe County” is available to purchase at the Rowdy Rooster in Lexington and available for in-library use only at the Oglethorpe County Library.
Lena Smith Wise is pictured in her book, “The Story of Oglethorpe County.” Wise began her teaching career at Crawford High School and was later principal of Oglethorpe County Elementary School, spending most of her 42 years in education serving Oglethorpe County. (Photo/Scott Thaxton)
The Lena Wise Community Center in Crawford on Thursday, March 23, 2022. The community center opened in 2017 after Crawford Methodist Church was dissolved. One of the key services offered at the center is free High School Equivalency GED classes. (Photo/Maddie Daniel)
The cover of The Story of Oglethorpe County by Lena Smith Wise features a photo of the Oglethorpe County Courthouse in Lexington. The content of the book was written for Wise’s master’s thesis in 1953, and published by Historic Oglethorpe County in 1980. This version of the book is the second edition, published in 1998. (Cover Photo/ William G. Murray)
Crawford Methodist Church photographed c. 1950. Lena Wise taught Sunday school and served on the administrative board while she was a member there. After it was dissolved in 2017, part of the building became the Lena Wise Community Center. (Photo/Submitted by Ashley Simpson)
The Lena Wise Community Center in Crawford, which celebrates its sixth anniversary this year, offers free high school equivalency classes as preparation for the GED.
