90^th Birthday Celebration for Jo Wright

Mrs. Nannie Jo Esther Graham Wright celebrated her 90^th birthday in Bonham on Saturday, June 13, 2009, at the Northside Church of Christ with about 45 family and friends.

Born at home near Telephone, TX, on June 17, 1919, to Sarah McConnell Graham and Madison (Matt) Graham, she is the third of seven children; four are still living.

She began school at age five at Dotson, TX, and went there through fifth grade when they moved to Lamasco.

To attend high school, Mrs. Wright had to move into Bonham where she lived with another family.

“We lived in the country and it was too far to come to school,” she said. They lived near Lamasco.

She graduated from Bonham High School in 1936 when they had only 11 years of school.

“That’s all they had,” she said. “There were only 11 grades at that time.”

Mrs. Wright also remembers that the real treat was coming into Bonham with her dad on Saturday.

“We came sometimes—not all the time—and when we did, we came by wagon. It was a two-day trip. Daddy would park the wagon in the wagon yard and we would spend the night in the wagon.”

She attended a normal school, teacher training school, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Texas Christian University and her master’s degree from Pan American University in Edinburg, TX.

For 38 years, she taught kindergarteners and first graders in six states: Oklahoma, Colorado, Minnesota, New Jersey, Alaska and Texas.

Attending the party were her brother, Dillard (wife, Hazel) Graham of Sherman, TX, sister Vona Slack of Estes Park, Colorado, sons Tom (wife, Mary Pat) of Texarkana, TX, and Jim (wife, Charlotte) of Pflugerville, TX, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.

Her sister, Marguerite Graham (92), lives in a Dallas nursing home and was unable to attend.