Mrs. Mary Joyce Wright

I remember my grandmother introducing me to Mrs. Mary Joyce. It was 1976. My grandmother introduced her as "Mrs. Wright, Sherri and Susan's mom." In the years that followed, I discovered that her daughters shared her math smarts. During elementary school, Mrs. Mary Joyce was my hero, rescuing me from faculty meetings at Central School by letting me play on the swingsets, seesaw, and monkey bars with Susan. It meant the world to me for Mrs. Mary Joyce to look down at me and say, "Bryant boy, you and Susan go play, but don't leave that playground. You hear me now?" While I loved the principals and the teachers gathered in that meeting, I'd rather play on the Central School playground with Susan. Mrs. Mary Joyce's death makes me sad, makes my heart ache along with Susan's and Sherri's hearts. What I keep reminding myself is this: death only takes a Christian to Jesus. That's the only power death really ever has over us.