Lillie Mae Wright: 'fairy godmother grandmother'

As I poke around in the dusty corners of local history, it's not uncommon to come across someone I wish had met.

Such is the case with Lillie Mae Wright.

Lillie Mae Wright was born in Comanche, Texas, but she spent most of her hundred years of life in Portales after she and her husband, Robert Durward Wright, moved there sometime in the 1920s.

It was in her role as a mother that she is most remembered in Roosevelt County, because Lillie Mae may have been the only double Gold Star Mother we ever had here.

For those unfamiliar, a Gold Star Mother is a woman whose child went missing in action or died on active duty while serving as member of the United States Armed Forces.

Lillie Mae achieved double Gold Star status (an honor no one would ever pursue) when she lost her two sons - Portales' very own Wright brothers - during World War II.

Her older son, Durward Haynes Wright, survived the Bataan Death March as a member of the 200th Coast Artillery, but died in a Japanese prison camp on June 21, 1942.

Her younger son, Warren Miller Wright, lost his life during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February of 1945 while serving with the Fifth Marine Division.

In a tragic twist of fate, Lillie Mae also lost her husband to illness on almost the exact same day as her older son died - although official news of Durward Haynes' death would not reach her until almost three years later.

There are few issues of the old Portales Valley News, Portales Daily News, and Portales Tribune that don't mention Lillie Mae and her sons.

Lillie Mae was an involved member of the community - a pillar of the Ladies' Aid Society at First Christian Church. Both boys were active in Boy Scouts and had a busy social life full of civic events, school activities, and social gatherings.

When Lillie Mae received word that Durward Haynes was a prisoner of the Japanese, she put up $5 to start the "Bomber Revenge fund," an idea suggested in a "Spud Spouts" column penned by J.G. "Spud" Greaves in the Portales Daily News as a way to "revenge the boys on Bataan."

"Mrs. Wright said she wanted to be the first to start the fund," according to the March 23, 1943, issue of the paper.

Lillie Mae's husband died on June 20, 1942, after a long spell of declining health. Years later after Durward Haynes' death was officially reported, there was speculation that with the adjustment for the time differences between New Mexico and the Philippines that the father and son died on the same day.

For almost the half century that followed the death of her second son, Lillie Mae lived alone and in Portales, but she was a source of joy among those who knew her.

Kathy Wright (no relation), who now lives in Clovis, grew up in Portales across the street from Lillie Mae.

"We called her our fairy godmother grandmother," Kathy said. She has fond memories of learning to bake under Lillie Mae's tutelage and making visits to the cemetery to tend to the Wright family plot.

"She was a wonderful person," Kathy said. "She was always very pleasant. She did all kinds of handiwork. She crocheted lap robes for the old people in the nursing home ... she was probably older than them. Everybody in our neighborhood knew Lillie Mae."

Kathy also remembers "the best homemade popcorn balls at Halloween," legendary egg custard pies, and how Lillie Mae kept a purse full of individually wrapped hard lemon candies to pass down the row to children in her pew after communion had been served.

My 97-year-old friend Jean Grissom, who makes her home in Paris, Texas, told me she was a child in the Sunday school class taught by Durward Haynes and remembered hearing Warren play violin during services at the Christian Church.

"Once a month the Ladies Aid had dinner in the basement for a penny ... a penny lunch," Grissom recalled. "You could buy green beans for a penny ... mashed potatoes a penny ... fried chicken five cents. Lillie Mae was right in the middle of that."

For as long as she was able, Lillie Mae was a regular honoree at Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances in Portales.

In the Nov. 11, 1990, Portales News-Tribune, is a photograph of Lillie Mae surrounded by local survivors of the Bataan Death March. It was one of the last ceremonies she was able to attend. In June of 1994, those survivors were named as the honorary pallbearers at her funeral.

"Lillie Mae was a wonderful woman," Grissom said. "There was never another like her."

Betty Williamson wishes she could share a slice of egg custard pie with Lillie Mae Wright. Reach her at:

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