Released: Sept. 27, 1999

OSEOLA McCARTY'S LIFE TO BE CELEBRATED

HATTIESBURG -- Oseola McCarty -- the humble washerwoman who became The University of Southern Mississippi's most famous benefactor -- died of cancer Sunday at the age of 91.

She was diagnosed with liver cancer Sept. 7 after undergoing unrelated minor surgery at Hattiesburg's Forrest General Hospital. Her public appearances had been sharply curtailed since she underwent surgery in 1998 for a cancerous colon tumor.

The soft-spoken Mississippian, who read her tattered Bible most every day, died at 6:35 p.m. at the small, wooden-frame Hattiesburg home where she had lived and worked for most of her life. She had been under 24-hour nursing care.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

McCarty's lifelong work ethic and generous heart drew global attention after it was announced in July of 1995 that she would will $150,000 of her life's savings to Southern Miss to provide scholarships for deserving students in need of financial assistance to continue their education. She received scores of awards and other honors recognizing her unselfish spirit; and President Bill Clinton presented her with a Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation's second highest civilian award, during a special White House Ceremony. She also won the United Nation's coveted Avicenna Medal for educational commitment.

"People in Hattiesburg call her donation the `Gift'," Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times correspondent Rick Bragg wrote after interviewing McCarty in August of 1995. "She made it, in part, in anticipation of her death. As she sat in her warm, dark living room, she talked of that death matter-of-factly, the same way she talked about the possibility of an afternoon thundershower.

"To her, the Gift was a preparation, like closing the bedroom windows to keep the rain from blowing in on the bedspread. `I know it won't be too many years before I pass on,' she said, `and I just figured the money would do them a lot more good than it would me'," wrote Bragg, a native Southerner who also mentioned McCarty in his best-selling autobiography, All Over but the Shoutin'.

After the story of McCarty's $150,000 gift to Southern Miss became widely known, her life changed dramatically. From a world she had measured in city blocks for most her life, she traveled throughout the country to receive honors and do media interviews.

Amazingly, she had earned the $150,000 -- representing about 60 percent of her life's savings -- washing and ironing other people's clothes for 75 years before retiring in December of 1994.

McCarty's gift, willed to the university in an irrevocable trust administered by the Southern Miss Foundation, sparked a matching fund-raising drive that had raised more than $330,000 at the time of her death. The donations were channeled into the Oseola McCarty Endowed Scholarship Fund, which already has provided Southern Miss scholarships for nine students -- three of whom have graduated.

The woman who rarely left her house -- except for weekly trips to the grocery store and church -- never married nor learned to drive a car. She always dreamed about becoming a nurse, but had to drop out of school after the sixth grade to help support her mother, grandmother and an aunt.

After her gift to Southern Miss became widely known, McCarty appeared on every major TV network; was written about in such national publications as People Magazine, Newsweek, Time, Life magazine and the New York Times; and received honorary doctorates from Harvard University and Southern Miss.

This past summer, she was voted Mississippi's Humanitarian of the Century in a survey of more than 500 readers of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, the state's largest newspaper.

McCarty spent much of the past few years receiving awards and making personal appearances all across the country -- encouraging youths to work hard and save their money, and receiving an outpouring of love and appreciation wherever she journeyed.

Her first book, Simple Wisdom for Rich Living, was published by Longstreet Press in 1996. A second book, The Riches of Oseola McCarty, written by Evelyn Coleman and illustrated by Daniel Minter, was published by Albert Whitman and Company in 1998. Simple Wisdom is a collection of McCarty's views and sayings on work, faith, saving, relationships and good living.

On work: "I knew there were people who didn't have to work as hard as I did, but it didn't make me feel sad. I loved to work, and when you love to do anything, those things don't bother you."

On saving money: "A smart person plans for the future. You never know what kind of emergency will come up, and you can't rely on the government to meet all your needs. You have to take responsibility for yourself."

On good living: "There's a lot of talk about self-esteem these days. It seems pretty basic to me. If you want to feel proud of yourself, you've got to do things you can be proud of. Feelings follow actions."

"Her life, her thrift and her generosity have inspired millions," said Southern Miss Public Relations Director Bud Kirkpatrick, who had worked closely with McCarty in coordinating her personal appearances and media interviews since 1995.

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