LIFE TRUSTEE PROFILE

BELOW

Mary Rushing with her older daughter during a secondgrade field trip to the Atlanta History Center's Tullie Smith House during the 1985–1986

school year.

MARY RUSHING

LIFE TRUSTEE PROFILE

ife Trustee MARY RUSHING

Ljoined the Pace Academy Board of Trustees in 1986, volunteering her time as well as her financial acumen to partner with fellow Board members to usher in an exciting era of expansion for Pace. Rushing, a CPA and the chief financial officer for a local agency of Northwestern Mutual for 24 years, served on the Board until 2004—nearly two decades—and was named as a Life Trustee in 2005.

Rushing and MICHAEL RUSHING, her husband of 37 years who died in 2012, first learned about Pace from friends at

Northside United Methodist Church. As the couple’s two young daughters approached school age, these friendships “were a major influence on our decision and love for Pace,” Rushing says.

The Rushing’s first visit to Pace, in 1983, “made quite an impression on us, as young parents seeking the perfect school,” she says. “We were thrilled when our older daughter, MARY ELIZABETH RUSHING LOTT ’96, was accepted into Pre-First, and right away we became involved as classroom volunteers and with the Pace Fall Fair.”

Those first years, Rushing “drove carpools, volunteered for field trips and even made costumes for the class plays,” she explains. “It was the way of life for Pace parents, and I made friends that way. I found my niche in the Lower School Store, where I sold supplies and learned all the names of the children.”

“Our younger daughter, MELANIE RUSHING HALL ’99, accompanied me and learned to make change and count coins. She thought she went to Pace long before she entered Pre-First,” Rushing laughs.

“From all those interactions and being on hand often, I just grew into the Board opportunity,” she explains. At the time, Pace was “financially sound but very fiscally conservative,” she says. “We were without an endowment and operated everything off of tuition. I served as Board treasurer and remember that as Board members, we paid dues to cover our Board expenses.” She notes that a Trustee today could not serve for as many years as she did, as the Board now limits service to three three-year terms. (Nor do today’s Trustees pay dues!)

The seeds of Rushing’s interest in finance and business were planted “growing up in small-town Alabama, where my father owned a general store with a potbelly stove,” she says. “My mother was a retired high-school math teacher, and she managed the office. My profession as a CPA was destined, as I was in the family store often and the business environment just soaked in.”

She loved the academic environment in the local high school and was eager for additional studies in college. She adds, “In 1964 in my hometown, you either went to the University of Alabama or Auburn, and that usually depended on your dad's allegiance.” Her choice was Alabama, where she earned both her Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Master of Business Administration degrees.

In Rushing’s years on the Board, she served on the Finance and numerous other committees, helping oversee additions including baseball fields, tennis courts, parking and more. Although her younger daughter graduated in 1999, Rushing remained engaged. “I was involved with the strategic planning process, and we were in the middle of a capital campaign to add athletics fields, the natatorium and the Inman Student Activities Center,” she says.

“I found myself very involved and very challenged.” She recalls. “Our proudest moment was the opening of the Fine Arts Center, an achievement we celebrated. Looking back, of course, it was just the beginning.”

Beyond her rewarding years on the Board, her daughters’ Pace experiences make her “beam with pride,” she says. “Both are women with confidence who

treasure the 13 years at one school, longlasting friendships, and strong academics with love and support from faculty.”

Rushing says, “Mary Elizabeth attended the University of Virginia and the Medical College of Georgia, and today is married with two children and working as a pediatrician in Jacksonville, Fla. Melanie graduated from Sewanee: The University of the South after playing college soccer. She is married with two children and lives in Jackson Hole, Wyo., and works for an agency of Raymond James.”

Rushing also beams about the Pace of today: “It is financially sound and has great leadership. There does not seem to be a challenge it cannot meet. Even with so much growth, it is still a family school, involving parents and alumni. The students are well-rounded, all unique, and still have the opportunity to find themselves and where they will excel in their own time.”

Rushing explains that the Life Trustee group’s purpose is to support the Pace mission and contribute financially to the school, either personally or through influence. Her greatest hope for Pace? “It always will be for it to build the endowment for the needs of the future,” she says. l