Wright Henry

Death reported in the following article about his mother.

Martha Wright—Deeply Rooted in Episcopal Church
This is the fifth of a series of interviews with parishioners who are aged 90 or more
Martha Whitaker Wright’s recollections were told to Deacon Jim Purks
You don’t have to look far nor deep to find
a common thread connecting Martha
Wright’s delightful personality, outlook,
and life history: that common thread is the
Episcopal Church. That certainly includes
St. Paul’s, Albany, where Martha has been
a member for more than four decades.
Martha prefers anecdotes, rather than
timelines. Dates, addresses, and precise
details don’t have the same fascination as
top-of-mind memories of places, people,
and eventful moments.
Sit with Martha and let her reminisce. For
example, she recalls an evening when an
aspiring young University of Georgia
student named Henry Wright knocked on
the front door of the two-story residence in
Athens, Georgia, of the Rev. David Cady
Wright (no relation). He was an
acquaintance of Henry’s father from
Waynesboro, Virginia, days. The Rev.
David Cady (that’s what everyone called
him) had moved from Waynesboro to be
priest at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in
Athens.
The Rev. David Cady once shared with
Martha, “This young student knocked on
my door one night and he stayed for four
years.� Young Henry had no place to stay,
was light on financial resources, his
mother was deceased, and his father was in
ill health. Henry Wright was essentially an
orphan and, yes, there was room at the
“inn.� He was given a room on the second
floor of the Wrights’ home. Rev. Wright
had a wife and two children. Henry
Wright became a part of the family and
often assisted in the priest’s ministry.
“Henry, get up, I need a Sunday School
teacher,� was the reverend’s call at
Henry’s door one morning. “I’m in the
bathroom,� Henry responded. “Get ready
in a hurry!� was the response. As time
went on, Henry’s deeper commitment to
the Episcopal Church unfolded, and the
Episcopal Church became an integral part
of Henry’s life and later of Martha’s life
and their entire family.
Enter Martha Whitaker. She was born
May 31, 1919, in El Paso, Texas. Her
younger sister Hennie also was born in El
Paso. After their father died, the widowed
mother and two young girls moved from El
Paso to Athens, Georgia. There, they were
welcomed by Martha’s mother’s sisters,
who were also raising children in Athens.
Happy years followed and Martha entered
the University of Georgia.
One day, student Martha Whitaker noticed
three boys standing under the UGA arch.
One of the three particularly caught her
eye. “Who is that?� she asked. She was
determined to know more.
“I had a hard time finding out where Henry
was. I kept watching on campus. I’d go to
hangouts. He wasn’t in a fraternity. In
college, you usually don’t go to church,
but I found out he lived in the Episcopal
rectory, so I started going to church—
Emmanuel Episcopal, of course.�
“You have to be careful about women,�
Martha told this writer in an interview with
a smile, “They find a way.� She and
Henry met, began dating, and often played
bridge at the home of the Rev. David
Cady. Happy times.
Henry Wright’s degrees were in forestry
and chemistry. Before completing his
undergraduate degree, he had graduated
from a military school as a second
lieutenant, eligible for the draft. He
subsequently was drafted; and after a year,
he went into the Army and served in the
Pacific in WWII. Henry and Martha saw
each other occasionally during that period.
Martha Whitaker, meanwhile, majored in
English with a minor in French. She made
Phi Beta Kappa, our nation’s most
prestigious academic honor society.
“I loved college,� Martha recalls. Having
lived in Athens for many years within a
relaxed, friendly, collegial setting, she
knew many of the professors personally.
She took art under the well-known Lamar
Dodd, music under Hugh Hudson, and
soaked up literature courses.
Henry and Martha were married on
December 23, 1945, at Emmanuel
Episcopal Church in Athens. The Rev.
David Cady Wright officiated. Then
began the next chapter for the Wrights: a
move to Oak Ridge, Tennessee—
nicknamed in popular lore as “The Secret
City,� “The Ridge,� “Atomic City,� or
“The City Behind the Fence.�
Aggressively established by the U.S.
government in 1942, Oak Ridge was
designated the production site for the
Manhattan Project, a massive American,
British, and Canadian operation to develop
the atomic bomb. Secrecy was crucial;
security absolutely essential. Time was
considered a win-lose, life-death matter. It
was suspected that Germany and/or Japan
were also doing atomic research. The
Allies were racing to be first.
Oak Ridge is located in eastern Tennessee,
about 25 miles west of Knoxville in a 17-
mile-long valley partitioned by several
ridges. Buildings were rapidly
constructed; huge laboratories built. All
kinds of equipment and materials were
transported in by rail, trucks, whatever
means possible. Housing was built for
scientists, experts, workers in many fields
and their families. A fence with seven
gates enclosed the town. Guard towers
everywhere. Everyone wore badges. You
did your job in secrecy, went home to
government housing within the compound,
and you told no one, including family,
what you were doing. Oak Ridge’s
population grew from 3,000 in 1942 to
75,000 in 1945. The August 6, 1945, and
August 9, 1945, atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, revealed
Martha at August 2011 event in Parish Hall
10
(Continued from preceding page . . . Martha Wright)
Surrender by Germany and Japan ended
World War II but not the intense work of
atomic research and production of
materials. Secrecy remained part of Oak
Ridge’s DNA. The Wright family built a
life there. Within a few years, Martha was
raising three children—daughter Anne and
sons Robert and Henry. Oak Ridge was
their hometown. They played there, were
educated there, made friends there, and
loved it.
The Wright children were baptized
elsewhere, however: St. John in the
Wilderness Episcopal Church in Flat Rock,
North Carolina, “a fascinating church,�
now on the National Register, Martha
recalls. There was not yet an Episcopal
Church in Oak Ridge, and Martha and
Henry wanted Anne, Robert, and Henry to
be baptized. Knowing that the Rev. David
Cady Wright was spending the month of
August at the historic Flat Rock church,
the Wrights traveled there for the baptisms.
They were joined by Martha’s sister
Hennie and her husband B. C. Gardner and
their daughter Janet. A big and joyous
family baptism followed. The setting,
Martha recalled, was beautiful.
Amid the intensity and hush-hush of the
daily work and social setting of Oak
Ridge, Martha remembers the commitment
many shared to worship and praise God
together in community. For a while,
various denominations put their respective
altars and sacraments in a large container
that was rolled into space provided for
Sundays services at a department store.
(In those days, stores were closed on
Sundays.) Congregations took turns at
designated hours. Then, the government
provided a building called the “Chapel on
the Hill.� It was Oak Ridge’s only church
during World War II and for several years
afterwards. It was used as a multidenominational
chapel shared by Catholic,
Protestant, and Jewish congregations.
Each group had use of it for only an hour
per week.
“We (Episcopalians) had some 15 or 20
members at first,� Martha said. She recalls
that this group soon attained a piece of
land and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church
was established. “That’s the church where
my son Henry, a Boy Scout, received his
God and Country award,� Martha said.
(At one point, the late Rev. Robert Utlaut,
husband of Carole Utlaut and father of St.
Paul’s Dana DuVall, served as deacon and
then priest of St. Stephen’s. Years later,
Dana and Willis DuVall and Martha and
Henry Wright would be next-door
neighbors on Bristol Road in Albany.)
“When Henry retired, he wanted a warmer
place. He was not interested in moving to
Athens,� Martha said. She noted that
Hennie and B. C. had invited her mother
to Albany “for a visit� that became a
permanent stay. “I felt if we retired to
Albany I could share some time with
mother, Hennie, and B. C.,� Martha said.
So Henry and Martha moved to Albany
in 1974-75. The three children “had all
grown up and were gone by then.� They
considered Oak Ridge as their hometown.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church became the
Wrights’ church home, and for Martha, it
was love at first sight.
“When I came here to St. Paul’s, in two
minutes, I met the nicest people I can
remember. People were saying such nice
things and when I came in it was
wonderful,� Martha said. Encouraged by
Mary Williams, Martha joined the Altar
Guild and served for 30 years. Her regular
shift was to prepare the altar and
sacraments for the 8 a.m. service. It was
especially joyful for her to handle the
bread tray, given to the church by her
Methodist brother-in-law, B. C. Gardner,
in memory of her mother, her name etched
on the silver: Mrs. Martha Schley
Whitaker.
Henry Wright died in May 2000, and his
ashes are buried in St. Paul’s Memorial
Garden as are son Bob’s, who died the
following January in an automobile
accident. Son Henry’s remains are in
Arizona.
Bob had two daughters, Margaret and
Martha, who live in Atlanta. Margaret’s
daughter Charlotte is the greatgranddaughter
of this story’s Martha
Wright. At the end of May, Margaret
expects to deliver a second greatgrandchild.
Daughter Anne, an attorney, has been in
Albany for several years now. She is no
longer practicing law but is holding fort at
her mother’s house on Bristol.
Martha with younger sister Hennie.
Martha prepares altar candles.
Posted By: NS Administrator - 05-22-2016
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