Malcolm Nathaniel Wright

 

Birch Creek Community and Hopkins County
Loses Friend and "Icon," This Week

 

by: Bobby McDonald

 

"Eleven cent cotton, forty cent meat, Good Lord, how's a poor
man goin' to eat!"

~ Malcolm Wright, Birch Creek Community ~

 

Many of us were saddened to learn that Mr. Malcolm Wright, Sr. "closed the curtain on this life," Sunday morning, at his residence in the Birch Creek Community. Most of you, if you've lived in Hopkins County for very long, knew "Mr. Malcolm" as the "vegetable man" who always brought vegetables to town, from his garden, to sell during season. But, for me, he was an even more memorable person, whom I'd known all of my life. Malcolm bought watermelons from my dad, as far back as I can remember and "peddled" them throughout Sulphur Springs. Then beginning when I was a small child, "Mr. Malcolm" was a "regular" at my parent's country store, where during cold weather, he'd "sit a spell" and share his thoughts and wisdom.

Naturally, when I wanted some history on the Birch Creek Community, Malcolm was the first person I'd ask, and he always had a story to share. And, when it came time for me to write history books about Hopkins County, Malcolm was "a natural" to include in the book.

At 91 years of age, Malcolm's old body, just "wore out," as he'd readily tell you! "I'm not quite as spry as I use to be!" he'd share. "But, let me tell you about that group of hogs me and my brother, Orange, bought and managed to make a 10 cent profit on, back during the Great Depression!"

"The end of an era in the Birch Creek Community, has passed!" expressed W.C. Pryor. "When they made Ol' Malcolm, they threw away the pattern!"

Malcolm Nathaniel Wright was born in a farmhouse south of Birch Creek, on a hot August day, in 1919, just a few short months after the Armistice, "The War to End All Wars!" He was the second son of James and Estella Pryor Wright and spent his formative years on the family farm, south of the Birch Creek Community. He attended the Pleasant Hill School and finished his education at Douglas High School, before "accomplishing the impossible during the Great Depression," by attending the "all-black" Jarvis Christian College, in Hawkins, Texas, where he majored in Agricultural Studies.

"Not a bad deal for a boy who had to drop-out of school for a year to help provide for my family, when I was 13 years old, when my father broke his leg, in a wagon accident," shared Malcolm. "That was back in 1932, when things were tight and poorly, and my dad was delivering wood and produce in the wagon, near Greenville, when he was hit from behind by an automobile, throwing him clear of the wagon, and breaking his leg, hip, and shattering his knee."

Malcolm "took over" the family farm at 13 years of age, feeding and caring for livestock and planting the crops. "I was able to return to school in the autumn of 1933, after we got the cotton picked, and was a member of the 100 and 220 yard dash, and the mile relay team," remembered Malcolm. "Relay team members with me were Marvin Allen, Willie Blye, and Babe Ray Dial. We won a number of trophies and ribbons at track meets, all across Northeast Texas!"

 

 

"About the coldest winter, I can ever remember," shared Malcolm. "Was in 1931, when one Friday in January it started raining, as we were walking home from school, and by Saturday a 'blue norther' had blown in and the rain turned to snow. When we woke up on Sunday morning, there was almost a foot of snow, on the ground, and the blankets on our beds were covered with snow, because the houses we lived in back then, had holes you could throw a cat through!"

"Of course we had livestock...mules, milch cows, horses, and chickens, to tend to," continued Malcolm. "And I remember that my fingers got so cold that the ends froze and I lost all of my fingernails. I don't ever remember it being any colder in Hopkins County."

Malcolm was hired by Jarvis Christian College to be their farm manager, and he was able to complete his education and to do what he loved, farming. While there he met and married, Linnie Maxine Timms, of Kilgore, and she's been his constant companion and partner, ever since. "Miss Linnie" would go and teach school during the term, in places such as Fannindel, and other places, taking part of the kids with her, and returning on weekends, while Malcolm kept part of them at the farm in Birch Creek. Through this method, they reared a family of ten kids, that has now expanded to twenty-five grandchildren, and twenty-seven great-grandchildren.

"Between my dad, my granddad, and me, we've about raised every kind of livestock and produce crop that would thrive in this community," expressed Malcolm. "We raised cucumber, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, turnips, mustard greens, collard greens, peanuts, peppers, and watermelons, and about everything else. And, we had chickens, turkeys, cattle, sheep, horses, and mules!"

"I've 'peddled' it all, and can remember going to the courthouse square in Sulphur Springs and it first being covered on Saturday's with wagons and teams, and then the introduction of Model T's and Model A's," stated Malcolm. "Things have definitely changed their ways in Hopkins County!"

"We've seen some mighty good times and some mighty rough time!" acknowledged Malcolm. "There's been a time when a black man had to jump in the street to let a white man pass by on the sidewalk, but thank the Good Lord those days are over now!"

"And, I'm going to tell you there are white niggers and black niggers! It don't matter what color their skin is, they're a 'nigger' if they're shiftless, don't work, and won't care for their own," shared Malcolm. "You know there's good and decent folks of all races, but when the ol' devil gets in 'em, it don't matter what color their skin is, they're rotten to the core!"

"I've led a good life!" shared Malcolm, on my last interview with him. "It hadn't always been easy, but then that's goin' to make heaven just that much sweeter, now won't it!"

"I've had a good wife, a good family, and things have kept getting better and better, nearly all my life, and I'm afraid that the younger generation won't be able to say that, about the times they'll be living in," warned Malcolm. "If this country and the next generation don't change up some of their ways, they're going to see some rough times again!"

Well, Malcolm Wright, closed that curtain on Sunday morning, November 7th, 150 years after the election of Abraham Lincoln, who freed members of his race from slavery, and he's lived through some difficult times, and lived the Jim Crow Era, seen the Civil Rights Movement come to fruition, and experienced "more wonders than a good man deserves," in this life. But, Hopkins County and all of us have lost a friend, and man worth sitting down and listening to, as he shared his poignant "take on life," as one who had 'about seen it all!"

We're certainly going to miss you Malcolm!

(Funeral services for Malcolm Wright are scheduled for Wednesday, at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, and a complete obituary is listed on the Obituary Page.)

 

_______