Shirley Louise Booth Wright was born on December 7, 1929 and peacefully left this earth on April 6, 2020. Shirley is survived by her husband, Glenn F. Wright and 6 children, Linda Cohn, Donna Villarreal, Sandi Bomgaars, Glenn F Wright, Jr, known to most as Corkey, Lisa Pischel and Mia Swigart. She was preceded in death by her youngest child, William Christopher Wright.
Shirley was the first born and daughter of William Jennings Booth and Louella Louise Booth. She was born and raised in Oklahoma City and grew up with a younger brother William Robert Booth and a loving grandmother that lived with her and her family, Granny Blair.
Shirley graduated from Classen High School in 1947 where she met a boy. Not just any boy but one that she would marry and spend the next 69 years and 10 months. As the story goes, a friend of Glenn’s asked him to go on a blind date with him and his girlfriend. This friend described Glenn’s date to be the prettiest girl at the school. Glenn decided to go on the blind date but was skeptical. As Shirley and her friend were coming out to the car, my dad, while sitting in the car, had Shirley stop in front of the car with the head lights shining on her, then asked her to turn around slowly so that he could get a good look at her. Fortunately Shirley had a good sense of humor and obviously, Glenn was pleased what he saw.
After high school, Shirley continued her education at St Anthony School of Nursing. In those days, her internships required her to travel out of state to different hospitals. Glenn, being the rambler that he is would hitchhike as often as he could to meet up with Shirley, regardless where she was. This went on for quite some time and their love grew to the point that they wanted to commit to each other permanently. On June 3, 1950, they eloped and began intimately sharing their unconventional free spirit lifestyle together.
It did not take Shirley and Glenn long to begin their family. Within a year, their first daughter, Linda, was born. From then on anywhere between 18 and 20 months a new child was born into the Wright family. After Linda, came Donna, then Sandi and then Corkey. At that point they took a 4 year break to catch their breath, then started all over again with bringing Lisa, Mia and Chris into the family.
While raising her family, Shirley continued her profession as a Registered Nurse at Saint Anthony Hospital. As typical, Shirley spent her career working in the nursery at the hospital. Being the nurturing person that she was, Shirley was exactly where she belonged…surrounded by newborn babies and her children 24 hours a day. Saint Anthony’s recognized her gift and developed a program for new mother’s where Shirley taught them the basics, holding the baby, breast feeding, diapering, recognizing the different cries of their baby and how to console their baby especially when colicky. Frequently, Shirley was tempted to bring home a baby who didn’t have a home to go to so that she could love and raise, because that was the type of person she was.
During her busy life of raising her kids and being a full time nurse, Shirley found time to enjoy life with Glenn. It was nothing for them at the last minute to decide to pack the car up full of kids and take a Sunday drive looking for good dove hunting grounds or to decide to go to the lake for the weekend. Or to pack up kids and grandkids to head cross country to visit Yellowstone to enjoy the backwoods and river rafting, go to Las Vegas….you name it and they were game for it.
Shirley and Glenn always had their “coffee” diners. They would go to coffee around 9:00 pm, spend a couple of hours at the diner visiting with the waitresses and the regular crowd, then come home, go to bed for a few hours, just to get up at 5:30 in the morning for Shirley to get ready for work and start it all over again. Shirley was a dedicated nurse and very seldom missed a day of work, in fact, she frequently worked double shifts for the hospital.
The family has so many special memories of Shirley and her kids chose a few of their favorite memories to share.
From Linda
It is almost impossible to share just one memory of their mom as there are many. So, I am sharing a montage of memories from my childhood and into adulthood.
Mom enjoyed sewing…she made our Easter dresses each year, same dress different colors and of course sizes. On Easter morning we would go to church and get so many complements. We were so proud. Mom also made all our Barbie doll clothes. The other neighborhood girls loved to play Barbie’s with us because we would bring our big box of clothes. Our Barbie’s were very fashionable
Mom modeled great work ethics as well as a joy for life. She was up early every morning for work, came home changed out of her uniform, rested for about 30 minutes, and then was off again running us to dance & modeling classes, cheerleading practice, sports, school activities, library, or a trip to the TG&Y to get something we needed for school the next morning.
Mom was always there for me. When I had a family of my own, if Irv and I wanted to go to Vegas for the weekend all I had to do was call and drop off the kids. She was my knitting mess-up savior. Every time, and there were many, I dropped a stitch or messed up a patter, I would take it to her, and she would stop what she was doing and fix it.
Some stand out memories.
• Walking a drunk teenage daughter around the front yard late at night to help her sober up.
• The neighborhood ironing club – four or five ladies with ironing boards and baskets of clothes set up in our living and dining rooms listening to the radio
• Mom’s evening cup of tea at the dining room table with our neighbor, Billie, from up the street
• She always made our every-other-weekend camping trips an adventure
• Ear piercing – I wanted my ears pierced so bad. So, mom got her needle, sterilized it, had me put ice on my ears, told me not to be a baby, and voila my ears were pierced. Now it was my turn to do mom’s ears. SHE FAINTED.
From Sandi
Crafts. Mom was always working on something and there were very few instances where the craft was going to be for her personally. She made and taught us how to make Christmas candles out of milk cartons, ice and paraffin. We would sit around our dining table and work on beaded jewelry, watch her knit and crochet her heart out making stocking caps for the babies in her nursery, house shoes and afghan blankets for her family and of course, baby blankets for the family newborns. Mom was a skilled seamstress and was always at the sewing machine. She made the all the bridesmaid dresses for my wedding. Mom taught those of us who wanted to learn how to knit, crochet and sew. Even after her kids left home she continued with crafts with her kids. With Lisa, Mia and some of her grandkids she would make Christmas ornaments, Christmas pillows, Christmas gifts such as colored bottles with lights in them and of course, always the knitted house shoes. The most endearing project mom was involved in was working with Donna putting together a Family Cookbook. It holds such a special place in my heart and I still constantly refer to it.
From Corkey
First one that comes to mind ~ It was in the middle of summer and I had walked to the store. After buying my candy as I was headed home I saw what looked like a really cool looking belt. Being a ten year old boy I picked it up and noticed it wasn’t a belt it was a snake. After throwing it as high as I could and seeing it not move after hitting the ground I felt safe in taking it home. Oh how stupid can a ten year old be. Mom had me locked out of the house and wouldn’t let me in (for what felt like hours) until I proved I had gotten rid of the snake.
Second one would be ~ This time it was a winter night and the Divers, Speedy Priodeaux, and one or two more were hanging out in front of the fireplace on 59th. We had the fire going good, it was well after midnight, and everyone else in the house was asleep. In as soft as a voice as I could I said lets light this joint. Next thing I hear is mom saying you better not be smoking that shit in my house. That Lady has some damn good ears.
Shirley’s legacy is that of a nurturer. It was her mission in life to care for people from newborn babies to the elderly. Her greatest accomplishment in life was building a family starting with just two, her and Glenn. Together Shirley and Glenn created a family of 7 kids, 5 sons-in-law, 30 grandkids and 36 great grandkids. The memories accumulated throughout the years will forever be cherished family and friends.
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