by Steven Glenn Wright
Good Morning,
I want to thank all of you for coming out on this beautiful morning to celebrate the life of my beloved mother Doris Wright. On behalf of my Father Wilbur, my sister Cyndi, my Mom’s grandchildren and her great grandchildren, I want to thank you for being here this morning to celebrate her life. It is an honor that you have joined us today and we are humbled by all of you attending this very special memorial.
How do you describe a life well lived?
There’s a saying that says your life is summed up by two dates that are separated by a dash. And we all know that it is not the dates that are most important, but what matters the most is how much we live and love …. and how we spend our dash. My mother’s dash lasted for nearly 89 years and in my eyes, she spent it well.
Doris Elizabeth Woodward-Wright was born September 19, 1928 in Denver, Colorado. She was a second-generation Coloradan born at St. Joseph’s Hospital as were my sister and I and my 4 sons. She grew up in a loving household with two older brothers, Raymond and Donald, an older sister June and her younger sister Joyce. Her parents Ray and Rose were loving and hardworking folks.
The Woodward household was an active one with the five kids, their friends and lots of relatives. My Mom’s father Ray worked the night shift for 30 years for the Denver Water Department. He spent his days building homes and had other second jobs that were needed to raise their family. My grandmother Rose Woodward worked in the little grocery store that they operated out of their house on the hill near Loretta Heights.
The Woodward’s were good-hearted people running the neighborhood grocery store and my Mom told me of how they often gave credit to the neighbors who needed food from the store until their next paycheck or job came around. I like to believe that’s where my Mother acquired her generous and giving ways. She always had a kind and caring heart, and I think that loving consideration and thoughtfulness for other people was instilled in her from her upbringing at the little neighborhood grocery store her family ran.
I remember my mother talking about the backyard garden they had at their house and the many wonderful vegetables they brought to their table to eat after the harvest. She often mentioned that the Woodward family hunted and fished for food and how the whole family would go to the mountains for extended hunting and fishing trips. They would bring back deer and elk in the fall and a whole bunch of fish at various times during the year. She grew up loving the outdoors and especially gardening which carried over into her later years.
My father, who was a Guard on the football team described my mother as being a bit shy in high school and not necessarily one that hung with the “popular” crowd. During my parent’s senior year of high school, my mother worked in the principal’s office and for some reason my dad Wilbur ended up there one day. He had seen the very pretty Doris Woodward around school, but hadn’t really connected in any serious way. They struck up a conversation and eventually started dating in 1946 during the second half of their senior year at Englewood High.
As I mentioned, the Woodward household was very active. It was the summer of 1946 and my Mom’s older brothers Raymond and Donald had just come back stateside following World War II. Raymond had been in the Army Air Corps and Don in the Navy. Raymond and young Don had a number of young veteran friends that would frequent the Woodward residence.
As my Dad tells it, he was thinking of joining the military and had gone down for his physical to enlist. He came out just fine physically– but then he thought… if I go into the military for any period of time… all of those returning vets, young men who are now ready to settle down will be hanging around at the Woodward house and Doris will probably not be here when I get back!
So, Wilbur did not join the military and Wilbur and Doris went forward with their love affair. They talked of marriage, but Wilbur had just bought a new car and was using 90% of his paycheck for the monthly payments so the time was not right.
It was Christmas 1947, and Wilbur had worked hard for a year to pay off the car and then felt ready to ask Doris Woodward to marry him. They were engaged on Christmas Day 1947 followed by their wedding on May 23, 1948.
My Grandfather BB Wright owned the Wright Motel which is still on South Broadway just north of the old Gothic Theater. I am sure that most of you have seen or driven past at one point or the other. The young newlyweds moved into an apartment there and started their life together as husband and wife.
The first eight years of their marriage were very challenging and difficult. They were each working two jobs to make ends meet and start the foundation to get ahead. In those days, that’s what people did and their work ethic and dedication to create a better life was beyond measure. During this time, my sister Cyndi was born in August 1949 and I came along in May of 1952.
It was during those years of struggle that my parents came up with an idea of opening a package liquor store. They looked for a location and my Mom and Dad decided on a new retail property that was on W. Hampden Ave. They hired a lawyer and went through the process of soliciting signatures from the neighborhood, going to a public hearing and eventually obtained a liquor license.
They opened the Wright Spot Liquor in January of 1955 and started their life as entrepreneurs. My Mom worked at the liquor store during the day and my Dad ran it at night and weekends after working at Samsonite during the day. By Christmas 1955, at age 27, Wilbur was able to quit his job at Samsonite and they never looked back. Their hard work and the risk they took paid off, and the liquor store was very successful. They kept buying more inventory, stocking the shelves and continuing to put money back into the business.
In the Fall of 1956, a business broker walked in one day and expressed some interest in having a client acquire the business. A week later the broker brought a very lucrative cash offer for the business plus inventory. Wilbur and Doris took the deal and were on their way to financial independence. That was mid-December of 1956 and it was a very happy Christmas for the young Wright Family.
Growing up, even while my mom was working, she was also a good home-maker. I remember our family always had great home cooked meals. I always had a great breakfast like French toast or eggs and bacon. She would prepare amazing dinners of pork chops, steaks, meat loaf or goulash. My mom enjoyed cooking and preparing meals for our family and she excelled at it.
1958 was the year my little brother Mark was born. Mark was developmentally disabled and it was a very hard time for both my parents. Mark’s life was short and he passed away in 1962 at age 4. My mother took his passing very hard. Over the next couple years as the family invested in real estate development, she was severely depressed over the death of her young son.
When I was 10 years old, we moved from our house in Englewood on E. Cornell Ave. to our new home on Lakeview Street in Littleton. It was a beautiful home that my father and mother had designed and built themselves and still own to this day. It was a perfect house for our family.
The Lakeview house was wonderful for entertaining and having family and friends over from time to time. My mother adored throwing a good party. Fun gatherings at the Lakeview House were numerous year in and year out. I particularly remember the Mash Party that my Mom threw in 1983 for the last episode of the popular Television show MASH. There were many more parties over the years that she hosted for friends and the family.
During the late 1940s and early 1950’s my parents connected with a group of people through the Englewood Junior Chamber of Commerce that would prove to be lasting friends for the next 60 plus years of their lives. These friends from the Jacey’s, and when they got too old for that –were known as the “Exhausted Roosters” were an integral part of our family’s lives and they attended many of these parties.
We still cherish so many of them as close and dear friends. Unfortunately, many of these friends are now gone …but many of them are here today and we thank you for coming.
I am sure these life-long friends along with myself, remember my mother being a fashionista before fashionistas were even around! Doris was always beautiful, impeccably dressed and looked fantastic. I’m proud to say I always thought my Mother was always the most beautiful woman in the room. She was such a warm and loving person that would engage with everyone on all levels. She had a great wit and was very funny.
During her life, my mother was an avid collector of antiques and all things old. To this day, she still has boxes and closets and garages full of antiques and collectibles. She took this passion and in 1964, a few years after suffering the loss of her son, she opened an antique shop called the Treasure Chest at the corner of Hampden and Bannock in Englewood which happened to be the first building that she and my dad had built back in 1952. From the start, Mom was consumed with building the business and she worked very hard making it a successful venture.
My mother was also an adventurous soul and looked forward to filling her passport.
We had a number of great family trips and vacations. I especially remember our family trip to Hawaii when I was 18. Later, our annual houseboat trip to Lake Powell for 10 years in a row was always an adventure. Our family had such a great time at Lake Powell enjoying our time waterskiing, jet skiing and having great family cookouts. My mother and father loved having their children and grandchildren around them and we enjoyed spending time as a family on these memorable vacations each year.
Mom loved to travel and once my sister and I were grown, she and my Dad went on to travel extensively over the years –first with the family and then with friends from a travel group. In the mid-70’s they joined a Travel Club called Ports of Call where they enjoyed many excursions over the years… mostly to Mexico, the Caribbean and a host of other exotic locations going on about 50 trips between 1976 and 1993.
At home, during the summertime, Mom really cherished tending to her flower garden and floral pots in the Lakeview house backyard. The yard at Lakeview was always beautifully manicured with amazing hanging flower baskets and beds of lavish flowers. A love she shared with my sister Cyndi.
In the winter-time, she took great pleasure in decorating and displaying many Christmas trees throughout the house. My sister Cyndi and niece Alissa became experts at decorating and staging sometimes twelve Christmas trees in the house during the holidays.
To say my mother loved Christmas is an understatement, in fact she loved Christmas so much that I remember wintertime stretching into spring and then summer … the flowers beautifully blooming in the backyard and we would still have a Christmas tree or two still up somewhere in the house! Yep – we WERE that family that did not follow the neighborhood’s Christmas light etiquette. My mother would have had Christmas trees and lights up all year round if she could.
As my sister and I moved on with our lives and started our own families, it was very important for my mother to have family come over and share the Lakeview house, especially during the summer when the pool was open. She enjoyed hosting swimming parties, she loved having family BBQs and she mostly treasured her family coming over and just spending time together.
As the years went on, the last thing that my mother would say as we were leaving the house was: “please look around, take something with you that you want, please take one of my antiques — whatever it is you like, I want you to have it.” The Lakeview house is still full of those cherished antiques and sweet remembrances of my mother.
Mom was very philanthropic and active in Assistance League of Denver and the Colorado Cancer League where she volunteered her time for years. She was involved at various times in our lives in so many worthy causes. The March of Dimes, the PTA at our schools, and many more.
During the early 1960’s, she led the effort and was responsible for raising the funds to create the Bates Logan Park in Englewood which is still being enjoyed by neighborhood families today. In recent years, she still enjoyed attending her Red Hat luncheons with her friends.
My mother was an active theater goer; she had tickets for the Denver Performing Art Center, the Arvada Center and the local Littleton Theater Company. She loved getting dressed up and going out with family and friends. In recent years, it was a labor of love that was undertaken by my Sister and niece Alissa taking Dodie to the theater. Her oxygen concentrator and cane made it a challenge, but Dodie loved it so much and she always wanted to be out and about looking beautiful and enjoying herself.
As I reflect on my Mother’s life…. I know that she was an amazing woman that lived life to its fullest and enjoyed her life immensely. Something she always encouraged me and my sister to do as well. There were times that were tough and difficult, but she had a tenacity and grit that were instilled in her from an early age and she made the best of any situation.
She was passionate about her family and friends and for 70 years, she loved my Dad with all her heart and he loves her. Her legacy is her family who all loved her dearly.
Mom, thoughts of you will bring us comfort and you will always be in our hearts when we need you. You will be remembered as a thoughtful, caring and compassionate person.
You left behind beautiful memories and you definitely lived your DASH well.
As I close for today, on behalf of my father Wilbur, my sister Cyndi and all of my Mom’s grandchildren and great grandchildren — I thank you all for being here to support our family during this time of sorrow and celebration.