OurWrightSide Weblog

When Nathan first saw Icy, he knew he wanted to marry her.  Love at first sight.  She was singing in church.  He said she looked like an angel, standing up there singing in the choir!

Left to right:  Gladys Hollaway (Nathan’s younger sister who died at a young age) with her husband Allen behind her (their children: Melvin, Bobby and Junior)  When Gladys died, Allen was a very gentle and sweet man.  He married again and lived in Buntyn, making a living by working on and selling sewing machines; center front is the beautiful, sweet Gladys, wife of Abe Wright with Abe standing behind her.  What a beautiful couple they were, both so handsome and stylish;  right front is Icy with Ken standing behind her.  No finer people were there than these two amazing people.

He was friends with her brother.  He discovered that she was ‘ornery’ and he like that about her!  He also thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

Grandma Hall didn’t like him at first.  Actually, she despised him.  She forbid him from taking her daughter out.  She thought Icy was way too young to be dating.  He worked hard and finally won her over.

Their courtship was sometimes rocky.  They quarreled a bit when they were dating.  But nothing serious.

Nathan asked Icy to marry him while driving in his car.  Her first answer to his proposal was ‘NO!’

But… he obviously got her to say ‘YES’ at some point!

Nathan and Icy were married for 55 years until Nathan’s death in 1976.   They had a wonderful, blessed life together.  Icy passed away on December 4th, 1997, the day before their wedding anniversary.  I guess she was just ready to celebrate their anniversary together once again!  But gosh, how we miss them!

Nathan was born in Woodville, Alabama.  His mother was about 23 years old when she had him.  He looked like his father.

He recalled that his best birthday was when he was 23, just after getting married.

He said the tooth fairy never visited him when he was a kid.  Nor did he ever get an allowance.

It was his father who did the spanking when he needed it.  He said the naughtiest he ever was, was when he put his dirty feet on the churn to keep the lid down.  And yes, he got a spanking.

A man by the name of Mr. Thomas was very influential in his life, giving him a lot of advise.  And his advise to others was to always be honest and work hard.

He never had to go to the hospital for broken bones or stitches.  And he was never afraid of doctors.

He got around mostly traveling by horse, wagon and finally a car (right before he got married).  He never ran away from home but when he got frustrated at home, he would go visit his married sisters.

His favorite color was ‘blue.’  His favorite book was the ‘Holy Bible and mysteries.’  His favorite move was ‘Gone With the Wind’ and his favorite song was ‘John Henry.’   His favorite sport was ‘wrestling.’  His favorite hobby (…more of a passion, I would say) was ‘fishing.’   His favorite season was ‘spring.’  His favorite holiday was ‘Christmas.’  His pie of choice was ‘chocolate’ (must run in the family…)  His favorite candy was ‘peppermint’ and his favorite cookie was ‘sugar cookies.’  His favorite ice cream was ‘vanilla.’

His father had a bad temper and threw his plow in the river one day.

He rubbed a bee hive once with his brothers.  Notice he said it was only once….

He remembered that his dad got on to his brother one tiime for knocking his plate into the floor and his little brother looked up to his dad and asked him who was going to switch him!

Nathan said all the Wrights were happy, friendly people.

When he was growing up, they lived in a plain country house that had ‘no paint!’  They had a small yard.  The light in the house was oil lamps and they heated it with a wood stove.  They washed their clothese in a kettle over the fire.  It had 4 large rooms.

He said his mother and sister made one Christmas extra-special!  They bought him a lot of fishing equipment.

Nathan said the main thing he remembered about his mother was that she was always a thoughtful person.

Her cooking?  He fondly remembered her mixed vegetables.  He said she was a good cook.

When it snowed, they would make a snowman and of course, he had the duty of chopping wood.

He said the worst job he ever had was laying down railroad ties.  At one time, he also worked as a cook and had to mop floors for a living.

A funny story he recalled from the first year he was married was when he was going real fast in the car and ran off the road.  Icy said, “I guess you will stop NOW!”

They lived and had children in Burnsville, MS,  Corinth, MS,  Glenn, MS,  Winnasoga, MS,  and Memphis, TN.

He never made or handed out Valentines Day cards but said he did give candy and flowers to a girl.  (He didn’t name the girl!)

The Easter Bunny never came to see him but they would have a picnic on July 4th.  No firecrackers, though.

Nathan went to grade school at Mt. Olive, Alabama and went to high school in Glenn, MS.  He made good grades and his favorite subjects were History, Geography and Math.  He walked to school and he said the thing he thought about most was girls!

His family never went on vacations, so he didn’t travel when he was young.  When he was grown, he went to Washington State with his daughter, Teen and her husband, Dick.  They also traveled to Cleveland and Canada.  Nathan would go to the State Fair too.

When he started dating Icy, Nathan said his parents liked her right way!

Oh, one more thing.  They called him Nate sometimes… and sometimes they called him ‘Jelly Roll.’

Icy’s family

Icy was born on a Sunday in Ittawamba, MS.  She weighed about 5 lbs., had blue eyes, golden blond hair and a ‘hot’ temperament.

She had 7 brothers and 3 sisters.  She said Harve was the nicest of the  brothers.  Doc was the youngest and was a bit spoiled.  They had to share everything.

Left to Right:  Doc, Sara, ___?, Icy, Cheryl (back), ___?  (Email me please on this!)

One of the fads she remembers from growing up was that they would look in the water on the first day of May to see who we were going to marry.  They told fortunes with a key in the Bible.  The key was supposed to turn to give them their answers.

She wanted to be a school teacher when she grew up.  They had an organ, and she said she always wanted to play it but never learned how.

Her favorite games were hide and seek and ball.  Her favorite toy was a china doll.  She didn’t like sports much, so she never sledded, went skiing or skating.

Her parents didn’t play with them much.  Her father died when she was 6 and her mother had no time to spare, due to taking care of the children and all.  She did teach Icy to cook though, when she was very young.  She learned first to cook corn bread and sugar cookies.  And she said she never had a cooking disaster!  Her favorite food was her grandma’s chocolate pies and also fried fish.

Her chores were pickin’ cotton, hoeing, drying apples and fruit, weaving cloth, and making homemade soap.

Candy was a penny a piece, so you could get 25 for a quarter.  When she earned a little money, she remembers buying a kelly green sweater, but it was hard to get ahold of any money in those days.

She had a pet sheep named Lee.  It was special to her because it minded her so well.

Her best friend was Earle Allred.  They always played well together.  The big bully was Stuart Benick.  He was mean to her.

She never had a room to herself growing up.  There were 13 people in their house.  They warmed the house with a fireplace in the Winter and they air conditioned the house by opening a window!

Santa would come to visit at Christmas and leave candy and fruit in their stockings.

Icy was 19 years old when she learned to drive.  Nathan taught her.  She never had her own car.

On weekends, her and her friend would go to ice cream suppers, candy breakings and singings.  She never had a pajama party!  She never teased her teachers or played jokes on them.  And she never played hooky!

She was on the school ball team.  Baseball.  She said they called it country and town.  In town when you batted and country when you were out in the field.

She said they had lots of homework.  She went to school from 8 to 4.

She said her wedding day was horrible!  They got their license at the wrong place.  They were married on the railroad tracks and she remembers they got stuck in the mud!  Her mother didn’t even get to see them because they had a lot of people waiting to see them.

For their honeymoon, they went to an Aunt’s house.  An Aunt she had never met!  And her Aunt had a lot of children.

Later, when Icy had her own kids:

She said Sara was a cute baby, but very stubborn (imagine that…)!  She said one time she took her shoes off and wouldn’t pick them up, so Icy had to take her hands and make her pick them up!