Mary Tribble Tells Sally Wait’s Mission South Story in “Pious Ambitions”

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In this episode 279, we visit with Mary Tribble, author of “Pious Ambitions: Sally Merriam Wait’s Mission South 1813-1831.”

At its simplest, Sally Wait’s life is the tale of a nineteenth-century woman endeavoring to make her mark on the world while striving to develop her faith. She is a significant figure in North Carolina and Baptist history, whose ambition led her from young convert to devoted wife of Reverend Samuel Wait, the first president and founder of Wake Forest University.A northern born woman with anti-slavery leanings, her decisions are shaped by a surging evangelical movement, changes in the American economy, the rise of women’s social agency, a fracturing of political traditions, and the moral conflicts inherent in a slave economy.

Randal Hall, William P. Hobby Professor of American History, Rice University, says this about the book: “Tribble draws from diaries and abundant letters that allow us to witness Sally Wait’s inner struggles alongside the events of her life. The result is a compelling and important life story.”

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About the Author:

As Senior Advisor of Engagement Strategies at Wake Forest University, Mary is responsible for connecting the 70,000 alumni to the university and to each other. She is a 1982 undergraduate and received her Master’s in Liberal Studies at Wake Forest in 2019. Mary’s ties to Wake Forest run deep. Her great-uncle, Harold Tribble was President of the university when it moved from the Town of Wake Forest to Winston-Salem. Her 4th great grandparents (and topic of her book) Samuel and Sally Wait, were founders of the college.

Mary has won honorable mention for her work from the American Baptist Historical Society for her work on Sally Wait, and has been a guest lecturer on the at numerous conferences, meetings, and academic settings.

Prior to working at Wake Forest, Mary owned Tribble Creative Group in Charlotte for 25 years, staging thousands of events in Charlotte and around the region, including the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Praise for the book:

“With elegance and empathy, Mary C. Tribble takes us along on Sally Merriam Wait’s fascinating and at times heart-wrenching quest to be a devout Baptist woman and the wife of a domestic missionary minister from the 1810s to the 1830s. She and her husband, Samuel Wait, stood up for the missionary impulse in the Baptist church, first in her native state of Vermont and then in North Carolina, where these transplanted New Englanders promoted the emerging Baptist State Convention and helped found what became Wake Forest University. Along the way, they shed their opposition to slavery as their denomination became more divided between the North and the South. Tribble draws from diaries and abundant letters that allow us to witness Sally Wait’s inner struggles alongside the events of her life. The result is a compelling and important life story.”

—Randal Hall, William P. Hobby Professor of American History, Rice University

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