Continuing along with the Jack Wright branch of the family, we are focusing on Jimmy Wright’s family. As the oldest, today we will meet me – Mary Wright Christiana and my husband, Jeff. You’ll read more about our children in the next few days.I consider myself lucky to have been raised in Larksville at the time Pop and all his children were alive as I got to know all of them. I was part of the parties, weddings and, sadly, funerals. They were always kind and supportive, with the absolute best senses of humor, and it may be the reason I enjoy spending so much time sharing family history.I loved school and was a good student. College wasn’t in the cards as it was unaffordable so I was a business student and worked in several offices, including Triangle Shoe Company when I was a senior in high school and for a year or so after graduation. My favorite job was as secretary to the President of Luzerne County Community College when it was just a few of us for a while, working in a bank building. Then, as staff grew and it became an official college, we moved to a building on River Street.By this time, I had met Jeff and we began planning our wedding. We left the valley to live in New Jersey and when they closed the base in Newark, we moved to Pittsburgh, where we lived for almost 50 years.We had two children, Karyn and Jeffery and life was good. I became a photographer, mostly self taught, but did attend a good number of classes taught by excellent photographers. We built a studio addition on our home & I did portraits, weddings, sports, etc. I was also a school board member for nine years, a role I very much enjoyed.Jeff had an esteemed career as a pilot with USAir (started with Allegheny & is now American) for 36 years. The photo here shows all the planes he flew – we presented the painting to him when he retired. I got to go on a lot of trips with him, including tagging along to several places in Europe just to have dinner. It was great. During his career, he also served as a Check Pilot and was, for a few years, Director of Operations. I loved those years because he worked at the Pittsburgh Airport and/or the local simulator building and was close to home.Jeff was from Kingston and we met at the Bonanza Steak House when I was Bonanza Belle – you’ve seen those photos. He had just gotten out of the army, serving in Viet Nam as a Green Beret.Those were the years. Now, in retirement, we live in North Carolina, about 20 minutes from Karyn and her family. We don’t have the spark we used to have, but still enjoy our life together. This COVID year is pretty ugly, but we are all living that, aren’t we? I take an online cooking course, play mahjong with friends – now online – and spend a great deal of time trying to organize photos – a monumental task. Jeff has low vision because of macular degeneration, but he does his best to keep as busy as possible. I only tell you this (with his permission) because if he doesn’t recognize you at the reunion, he probably isn’t seeing you well.So that’s it – in a pretty big nutshell. Tomorrow, Karyn’s family, then Jeff’s, then we move on to the rest of Jimmy Wright’s Family.
The Wright Family
May God Bless Us All
