Preface
Good Wife University (GWU)
Established May 28, 1951
Founders: Mary Ellen Wise and Gwendolyn B. Smart
Mary Ellen Wise and Gwen Smart saw many changes during their lifetimes. Most
were good. They fought for suffrage and saw the 19th Amendment ratified in 1920.
They believed in equal pay for equal work, regardless of race, creed, color,
sex, or national origin and were active in the civil rights movement. More than
anything else, they believed in marriage and the family as the basis of
civilization. But after World War II, they watched marriages deteriorate.
Although both had large families and looked forward to grandchildren, their
children seemed headed toward divorce.
Wise and Smart believed that marital disharmony was often the fault of newly
'liberated' women. 'Liberated' wives discarded traditional roles and values,
ignoring proven behavior as being obsolete. The result was an increase in
divorce, unhappiness, single parent families, neglected or abused children, and
a host of other problems. The pair believed that the cause was largely young
women rejecting marriage techniques that had worked for centuries.
So they recorded their thoughts on what made a happy and fulfilling marriage.
After some long discussions, they developed a plan and in May, 1951, they faked
serious illness so their daughters and daughters-in-law would come home. Once
the four young women arrived, they found themselves locked in the basement until
they learned the lessons that the Wise and Smart had prepared.
The founder's husbands came up with complimentary instruction for their sons and
sons-in-law. In the '50s, men were still breadwinners. Wives usually stayed home
to care for the children. Men had to work so their program was spread out over a
series of evening and weekend meetings and retreats. The young women, however,
were not allowed freedom until their mothers determined that they were prepared
to be good wives.
Although unconventional and of questionable legality, it worked. After a few
weeks in confinement, the four young wives went home and practiced what they
learned. Their lives and marriages improved and all four voluntarily came back,
forgiving their mothers for kidnapping them and begging for more.
Before long, others saw how the young families seemed to have fewer problems.
More importantly, couples solved problems in such a way that adversity
strengthened their relationships. One of Gwen's daughters asked if a few of her
friends could be taught how to be good wives. Wise and Smart kept the young
women prisoner for a few weeks, then sent them home to practice what they
learned. They, too, wanted to learn everything that the older wives could teach
them. Within a few years, a steady stream of young women came to learn the
secrets of being a good wives, volunteering to be kept prisoner in Gwen's
basement.
By the 1960s, happy graduates began to help with classes that were still held in
Gwen's home. Then a grateful couple donated property in the Blue Ridge Mountains
and the current Good Wife University (GWU) campus was born. It slowly grew and
expanded through the 70s, 80s, and 90s.
Today, an underground organization devoted to improving marriages operates in
the US and Canada. In addition to a main campus in the east, a campus opened in
the California desert in 1989. There are now plans to expand into the midwest
and Mexico. GWU also has extension classes in various homes throughout the
country. Because their techniques are controversial and illegal in some places,
GWU remains out of sight. This is the story of one class.
