Fannie V. Wright of Southampton died December 21. She was 86.
Born on April 15, 1927, in Capron, Virgina, she was a daughter of Hugh and Bernice Wyche. The family moved to Southampton when she was a child. She was married twice, first to Lorenzo Lee Brook and then to Earnest Wright. She worked in various jobs, but the one she will be remembered for, and from which she retired, was as record keeper at the Suffolk County Treasurer’s Office in Riverhead, where she was a clerk for the Town of Babylon.
In 1999, she became a resident of the Westhampton Care Center.
Family and close friends affectionately called her “Chicken,” a nickname she was given in childhood. Survivors said she will be remembered for her quick wit, her talent at crocheting, love of gardening and fried whiting and three bean salad. She was a poet and writer, they said, and her love of words made her an avid crossword player and a tough Scrabble opponent.
One of her poems was called “We Can Make A Change.” In it she wrote:
The day must surely come, when all hate will cease—
And the world as a whole will live in peace.
What a happy thought, looking for tomorrow
Gone will be the hurt, the pain and the sorrow.
Active in politics, she was a longtime member of the NAACP. Very independent, she was a feminist before the phrase had been coined. Survivors said she would often drive long stretches of the dark two-lane highway from Harlem to Southampton, alone and unafraid, and that “she’d shoot pool with the guys and beat the best of them.”
Ms. Wright is survived by her son, Ronald Wyche and wife Melissa; a brother, Jessie Wyche; an aunt, Lena Clark; and a number of nieces, nephews cousins, other family members and friends.
Reverend Henry Faison presided at a service at the First Baptist Church in Southampton on December 27. Funeral arrangements were under the direction of the Brockett Funeral Home.
on Jan 28, 2014