After serving in the Army in Vietnam and Korea, Sgt. First Class Joe Wright finally made his way back to his hometown of Houston, Texas, where he was assigned to a less stressful job at a recruiting office. One day, a young man walked in with an attractive young woman at his side.
“That your girlfriend?” Sgt. Wright asked, making small talk.
“No, this is my girlfriend’s roommate, Nancy,” the man replied. “I needed a ride down here, and she had a car.”
After an hour or so of promoting the benefits of Army life, Sgt. Wright got the recruit — and the girl.
“We were married two weeks later,” he said.
Nancy and Joe Wright enjoyed 51 years together until Nancy’s recent passing.
For the next 51 years, Joe and Nancy Wright, F51289, traveled the world, first in the Army and then in an RV. They became FMCA members 40 years ago, getting involved in several chapters, including the Kansas Twisters, South Texas Renegades, and Lone Star. Joe is currently serving as FMCA national vice president, South Central Area. Nancy held several positions at the chapter level and helped Joe with his national duties before passing away on January 16 at age 71.
“I’ll be going to [the FMCA convention in] Perry in March,” Joe said. “It will be the first time I’ll be going alone in 51 years. My daughter-in-law wants to go with me, but I don’t know.”
Joe and Nancy spent the first several years of their marriage living in Hawaii and Germany. Finally, after a 20-year career in the Army and reaching the rank of First Sergeant, Joe retired and they settled down in a small town in Kansas, close to where Nancy grew up. Joe got a job with The Coleman Company as a department manager overseeing the company’s manufacturing of air-conditioning units for RVs.
“We were always camping,” Joe said. “We camped in everything — tents, pop-up campers, hard-sided pop-up campers, Class C, small Class A, larger Class A. When we were stationed overseas in Germany, we had a station wagon and would go camping in it, sleeping in the back. And our kids were campers from day one.”
Nancy attended Texas Woman’s University in Denton, Texas. She worked for Shell Oil in Houston, a job she eventually gave up to stay at home with their kids, Joe II and Heather. As they grew, she turned her attention to providing in-home care for the elderly.
As a family, the Wrights were on the road every month, eventually visiting every state in the country except a few in the Northeast.
“Nancy really enjoyed the seashores the most,” Joe said. “She loved to walk the beaches, looking for shells. We would go to the shores a lot. And, of course, every time we went to a rally, she wanted to volunteer. Anything she was capable of doing, she liked to do.
“And she always had a jovial smile on her face. I think that’s what people remember most about her — her smile.”
That certainly got Joe’s attention at the Army recruiting office 51 years ago.
“And they said it would never last,” he said. “Well, at least that’s what her parents said.”
After recalling all of the memories, Joe paused.
“If I could just say one thing,” he said. “I just want to say thank you to all of the FMCA people who have called and sent cards. They really mean a lot.”