He was the son of Lawrence A. and Lucille A. (Crosswhite) Wise and was a 1948 graduate of Stroud, OK High School and 1953 graduate of OSU. He worked for the Post Office, Army, Air Force, CIA and the Library of Congress. He earned a M.A. at St. Louis University in 1960. He taught at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Graduate School in Washington, DC, Washington University in St. Louis, Prince George's Community College in Maryland and the Northern Virginia Community College. Member of the Arlington, VA Historical Society, Arlington County Bicentennial Commission, Virginia History Federation, and Association of American Geographers. He was Journal Consultant Editor of the Northern Virginia Heritage.

He served 2 years in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict and later in the MO Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserves, retiring in 1990 as Lt. Colonel. He moved to Broken Arrow, OK in 1981. He was a member of the Tulsa and Broken Arrow Genealogical Societies, the Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and was a Boy Scout leader. He served as Elder, Deacon, Trustee and on several church committees at First United Methodist Church of Broken Arrow. He is survived by his wife, June Emmeline Louise Ruth Wise of Broken Arrow, whom he married on September 2, 1961 in St. Louis, MO; son, Kurt Geoffrey Wise, Tulsa; sister, Dorothy W. Bryce and husband, John H. Bryce, Sr., Broken Arrow; nephews, John H. and wife, Sara Bryce, Jr., Woodstock, GA, Philip Alan and wife, Liza Bryce, Tulsa, Edward J. and wife, Michelle Bryce, Broken Arrow, Lawrence R. and wife, Linda Bryce, Kohler, WI; nieces and nephews, Lorna, Beverley, David, Julie, John, Olivia, Andrew and Alexandra Bryce; step-mother, Charlotte R. Wise, Broken Arrow.