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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Love Stories: Wrights quickly hit it out of the park

Family members often make the best matchmakers. In Nancy Wright’s case, her cousin introduced her to a new employee in his office. That introduction has led to almost six decades of marital bliss.

The deal worked like this. When her cousin started work in a new office in Pendleton, Oregon, he found slim pickings in the dating pool. Nancy worked in Portland. “He asked me to let him know about any likely prospects and I said, ‘Sure, if you’ll do the same for me.’ ” Laughing, she said, “He immediately said, ‘Oh, I know someone!’ ”

That someone was Wayne Wright. “He (Nancy’s cousin) said, ‘Come with me to Portland, there’s someone I want you to meet.’ ” Wayne shrugged. “I couldn’t turn my boss down!”

Born and raised in Spokane, Wayne attended Rogers High School and Eastern Washington University. Upon receiving his education degree from EWU in 1951, he was drafted. He spent most of 1952 and 1953 in Korea.

“When I got out of the service it was August and the teaching jobs were already filled, so I took a job in finance,” he said.

Nancy, from Chehalis, Washington, had graduated from Washington State University in 1953 with a degree in home economics and was working as an extension agent in Portland. She traveled to different counties, meeting with farm wives and teaching cooking and canning techniques.

All it took was one date for Wayne to be smitten. “We hit it off,” he said. “She was friendly and had a great sense of humor.”

A long-distance courtship ensued. It’s a 250-mile trip from Pendleton to Portland, and Wayne and Nancy traveled those miles frequently.

“He was interested in so many things from sports, to woodworking, to his job. I liked that,” Nancy said. “And he was so considerate. He still is!”

After dating for a year, the couple married on Dec. 3, 1955, in Chehalis.

They settled in Pendleton and Nancy took a job teaching in nearby Pilot Rock, though she didn’t have a teaching certificate.

In 1956, daughter Vicki was born and shortly thereafter, Wayne received a job promotion and the family moved to Walla Walla.

Son Gary arrived in 1958, followed by Roger in 1960.

While Nancy had her hands full with three little ones, Wayne became very active in organizations like the Jaycees and Little League.

A lifelong baseball/softball player, his involvement with Little League sparked a desire to return to the field he’d received his degree in – education. “I always wanted to coach,” he said.

So, in 1961, they moved to Spokane, when Wayne accepted a teaching job at Balboa Elementary School. He taught there for three years and then moved on to Salk Middle School, where he taught until he retired 23 years later.

And with the teaching came coaching. Track, basketball, you name it, Wayne coached it. In the summer months he worked for the Parks Department as a park leader. “That’s when I coached baseball,” he said. “There were no club sports at the time.”

A daughter, Wendy, completed the family in 1966. During the summer, Nancy would pack the children a picnic dinner and they’d go visit whatever park Wayne was working in at the time.

“The kids loved it,” she said.

When their youngest started school, so did Nancy. She returned to college to get her teaching certificate. She taught first grade at Finch and Loma Vista elementary schools until she retired in 1990.

“We had some goals in mind,” explained Wayne. “We wanted all of our kids to go to college.”

They also wanted to be able to enjoy travel during their retirement years. They achieved both goals. Once the children were grown and gone, they took several cruises as well as cross-country trips with friends.

Though Wayne retired a few years before his wife, he kept busy. “I hate to have him sitting around the house,” she teased.

Wayne is 85 and so is Nancy. “But I’m eight days older,” she said. “And I don’t let him forget it!”

For many years, Wayne ran the scoreboard at Joe Albi Stadium, and he enjoys golf and racquetball. His passion for softball earned him a spot in the Inland Empire Softball Hall of Fame.

Nowadays, their favorite vacations involve their four kids and 12 grandchildren. Each summer they pick a spot and host the entire clan, or at least all who can make it. “One year it was a houseboat on the Columbia – one year it was Hill’s Resort,” Wayne said. “Last year it was Seaside, Oregon.”

Nancy smiled. “We’re campfire people. We sit around the campfire and tell stories.”

And one of those stories just may involve a tale of how two young people were introduced by a cousin so many years ago.

Wayne said, “I knew she’d be a great wife, and she has been for 58 years.”

What of the cousin who introduced them? “He had to break down and marry his secretary because I didn’t do as well for him as he did for me,” said Nancy, smiling. “But it all worked out. They’re still married, too!”