Welcome to the Home Page of Helen Wright
Welcome to the Home page!
On this site you will find Pictures of The Wright Clan
formerly of
Binghamton, NY as well as information about some of the
Famous Relations of the Family.
Mostly you will find information and pictures of this
woman:
Helen Ruth Doolittle
Wright
This wonderful woman was born March 4th, 1921 in the small city of Sydney New York to Mark Arthur Doolittle and Clara Louise Chauncey Doolittle.
She died on July 31, 2008 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was surrounded by many of her loving kids when she died.
We all miss her Very much!
A link to her Guest Book:
http://www.legacy.com/pressconnects/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=114855432
Helen Ruth Doolittle's Biography
By Norma Jean (Wright) Almodovar AND John Stephen Wright (Edited by N.J. Almodovar)
Helen Ruth Doolittle was born March 4, 1921 in Sidney, New York to
Mark Arthur Doolittle and Clara Louise (Chauncey) Doolittle.
She grew up in a small town with one brother and three sisters. She
attended Oneonta State Teacher’s College in Oneonta, NY and became a school
teacher in a one room schoolhouse. In 1942, she met Harold Marvin Wright,
who was hitchhiking (WHERE WAS HE GOING? DO WE KNOW?), and they were married
December 24, 1942 in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Two years
later, in 1944, she bore her first child- a son. Douglas Alan Wright was
the first of the fourteen living children born to Helen and Harold Wright.
In 1967, her last child was born- it was a girl, bringing the daughter
count to 6 and her son count to 8. There were 2 children who were
stillborn. All the children were born while the growing family lived at
517 Chenango Street, but after the youngest was born, the family moved to 19
Moffatt Avenue in Binghamton, NY. which the family called home until they were
all grown and living on their own. All the siblings and respective spouses
were reunited only twice more at 19 Moffatt Ave, once in 1986 at our father's
funeral, and in 1990 when we had our only family reunion.
Mom continued to live in the family residence at 19 Moffatt Ave
until she moved in with John in 1992, who lived with his daughter Whitney at 526
Chenango Street (which was ironically the old office and residence of
Doctor Sobel, the family doctor who had delivered all her children and patched
up their many scrapes and wounds throughout the years). Later they
moved to 509 Chenango Street, which was the last Binghamton address she would
have.
Looking back through the years she lived with John
and Whitney, and observing the changes in her behavior, John believes that these
changes started right after her knee surgery in Early 2002. She became very
paranoid and accused him and Whitney of doing all sorts of evil things. The
problem came to a head when she called 911 in the middle of the night in April
of 2002 right after she got home from the hospital and told the stunned
paramedics that her son was trying to poison her and only her son Ken could calm
her down.
So in 2002, the family decided that she was in need of
more care than John could provide, and reluctantly a decision was made to put
her in a nursing home in Northern California, near her oldest son Doug. It was
very difficult for her to adjust to living with strangers, even though Doug came
to visit her every day and occasionally her other children were able to visit
her.
Her heart wrenching phone calls to her son Tim made
everyone rethink the nursing home idea and in 2003, on the cusp of Hurricane
Isabel, Tim brought her back to live with him in Norfolk, Virginia.
This was her last stop on this earth. Mom’s mental deterioration continued
and she began accusing her children in Norfolk of doing things to her to cause
her physical discomfort. Everyone knew it wasn’t true but Mom insisted that it
was.
She spent her days doing lots and lots of crossword puzzles,
circle-a-words(and according to Nikki, looking at the answers), and waiting for
the phone calls from her children who didn’t live in Norfolk. In particular,
youngest son Joe and oldest daughter Norma Jean called her on a daily basis-
usually several times a day. The family members who lived in Norfolk took
turns caring for her, making her meals (which consisted of the same thing every
day) and giving her a weekly bath( Mary being her favorite bath
giver...)
It was one of the daily phone calls from Norma Jean that
allowed us to have the opportunity to say goodbye to her, and her to us.
On Saturday morning, July 26th, Norma Jean called John because Mom did not
answer the phone after numerous attempts to reach her. Mom had been known
on more than one occasion to put the phone in her walker and hit the button so
it would not ring. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times.
John found her on the floor in her room with her arm raised
reaching toward him. He asked her what happened, but she was not able to
speak. He called to Mary and Whitney who were outside by the pool to help
him get her into bed. They managed to get her up and put her in bed, but
she was still not coherent. She responded as best she could when John
asked her again what happened, and she said she fell. They called 911
(which was one of Mom's favorite numbers when she needed a bath or her meal was
late) and the Fire Medics came and took her to Bon Secour Hospital Emergency
room.
The doctors diagnosed her as having had a Hemoragic
Stroke and said she was bleeding deep in her brain, so deep that it was
impossible to stop the bleeding. There was nothing more they could do for
her.
She was admitted to the hospital and the family members who
lived in Norfolk took turns staying with her 24 hours a day, including her
grandson Matt and his wife Maria (and their daughter Trinity). Despite
having no life support (no food or water) Mom held on for five days, until
the wee hours of Thursday morning, July 31, 2008.
During
that time, John brought his laptop to the hospital and with a wi-fi internet
connection, allowed those siblings who lived far away and were not able to come
to Norfolk the opportunity to say goodbye to her as well. Thank goodness
for technology and Skype!
Mom responded to us with winks and a
couple of smiles, and she squeezed our hands when we talked to her. We
knew she was in a great deal of pain, although she was given morphine on a
regular basis. Still she clung to life.
On Tuesday, when Ruth was
supposed be there, Mom started slipping away. But when the family told her
that Ruth missed her connecting flight to Norfolk and was stuck in New York
overnight, she started to improve. She held on another day, waiting for
Ruth to get there. Virginia started singing to her all Mom's favorite
hymns. Mom responded by trying to sing along and tapping her toes. At one
point she had some tears running down her face. We knew she heard the
songs and they appeared to comfort her.
On Wednesday, July
30th, her last day with us, her children and grandchildren Tim, Virginia, Joe,
Mary, Esther, Nicole, John, Whitney, Tommy, Matt, Maria, Little Matthew, Ruth,
Ken, Jake, Wanda, and Becky were all with her before she passed. As
midnight approached, Tim and John and others left to get some
sleep.
Mary, Ruth, Virginia, Esther and Nicole remained, choosing
to spend the night with her. According to them, at about 12:50 am, they asked
the nurse to check on her. Mom took her last breath at about that time,
and the phone rang. Three times. Esther answered it and said there was no
one there. She let us know she had reached her destination.
Helen Ruth Doolittle Wright- our beloved mother,
grandmother and great grandmother was buried at the Greenlawn Cemetery in
Bainbridge, New York, next to her husband Harold Marvin Wright on August 7th,
2008. The Cemetery also holds her parents and other of our
ancestors.
Between the two of them, they turned out quite a
family! Just goes to show you what happens when you stop to pick up a
hitchhiker!
_________________________________
Please send John and Norma
Jean a story about Mom which can be added to this website and to the book of
Mother Stories that Norma Jean is putting together.
You will find her Pictures here.
