Wright retiring after more than two decades

Bri Brasher
NLJ Reporter
 
Marilyn Wright recently retired as the administrative assistant at the First United Methodist Church in Newcastle after over 22 years of service. The church hosted a tea for Wright to offer “blessings and good wishes on her retirement,” according to an advertisement for the event placed in the News Letter Journal earlier this month. 
Members of the church said they will miss seeing Wright in the church office because she has been a constant presence for so many years. Wright too said she will miss the people she saw often at the church, but said she’ll still be around town to visit. 
 “I won’t see the people as much as I was at the church, but I’ll still be around. I’m not leaving town or anything like that!” Wright said. 
Elaine Wilcomb, a member of the church for about 25 years, said she has known Wright for “a very long time” and that whenever community members came into the church, Wright was always there and ready to help in any way she could. 
“She’s a wonderful woman – a very compassionate, spiritual woman. She loves family, and she comes from a large family,” said
Wilcomb, who later added, “She did anything anybody asked of her without complaint.”
Wilcomb said Wright’s duties included answering the phones and referring the community and congregation to the appropriate church people or pastor when they needed something. She said Wright worked diligently for the pastors and for various committees by regularly making announcements and posters for events and phone trees so people could have the information needed. Wilcomb said Wright always lent a helping hand for church activities. 
“You knew everything was under control when Marilyn was there,” said Barbara Crow, a friend through the church. “If you needed anything, she knew how to do it and could point you in the right direction. She knew all the ropes.”
Crow spoke of Wright’s influence as the administrative assistant, saying that Wright “sacrificed herself quite often for the good of the church” even as she endured personal health problems and family losses. Crow called Wright “a tough lady with an old-fashioned work ethic.” Both Crow and Wright said Wright cut her own hours when she figured she could finish her work in half the time because she was conscious of the church’s budget. 
“She was not a Methodist, but she certainly did a lot of kind and Christian things,” Crow said of Wright.
As a breast cancer survivor, Wright battled and overcame the disease through surgery and chemotherapy, all while maintaining her job with help from the ladies of the church. She said a law passed in the mid 1990s mandated that all states offer women who qualified some source of health care, and the program took care of her when her health scares arose. Additionally, Wright said she lost seven family members during her 22 years at the church, including her grandmother, both parents, and four of her siblings. When Wright had knee surgery in October, leaving her unable to work for several weeks, the church ladies stepped in to help again. 
“They were there and like family to me. They took care of me,” said Wright. “ I couldn’t ask for a better group of people that were there when I needed them.”
Wright said that before her breast cancer diagnosis in 2006, she had only an ear infection during her time at the church. She credits her health to prayer because the position did not offer health insurance. Initially, Wright said she was keeping her eyes open should other positions with insurance become available, but after a time, she trusted that she was doing what she was meant to do. 
“I prayed hard and asked the Lord to look after my health because of no insurance, and I knew that if I was where I was supposed to be that the Lord would take care of my health, and I quit looking for another job,” Wright said. 
Wright started working at the First United Methodist Church when a member of the congregation let her know the position was available. The timing was right because Wright had been working for Rich’s Well Service, in a family well-servicing business, for 13 years. The company went out of business, so Wright was out of work. She said that after her interview, the church called her the same day to offer her the job, and she’d been working there ever since. 
“Even though the work was pretty much the same thing every week, I never got bored with the tasks. I felt like it was where the Lord wanted me to be, and I enjoyed it,” Wright said.
During her time at the church, Wright said, she worked for 13 different pastors, the first of whom was Bob Firebaugh. While each pastor had his own way of doing things, according to Wright, she said she worked hard to avoid comparing one pastor with another and focused on adapting to each. 
“(Wright was) stability in the office as the church struggled through more pastors than you can count on one hand,” Crow said. 
Wright said that she knew many members of the congregation from high school, so she knew no strangers at the church. To continue building relationships, Wright said, she always made time to visit and really get acquainted with people.
“It’s been like an extended family. I’ve never had any problems with any of the members, and they knew that I would be there. I didn’t miss a lot even with the surgery and stuff,” she said.
Today, Wright is still keeping herself busy in retirement by volunteering at the senior center and maintaining her work as vice president of the local Helping Hands nonprofit. Wright said Helping Hands started
in Newcastle in 2012 and had
morphed out of a breast cancer support group started by Wright after her surgery and chemotherapy. Wright said Helping Hands offers assistance to Weston County residents who have to travel out of town for medical care. With fundraisers and community support, the nonprofit is still helping people today.
Crow said Wright is not a “sit-around person,” which is evidenced by her continued involvement in the community. Nonetheless, Wright said she will miss being around the people at the church, a sentiment shared by her friends.
“It’s really different (at the church). I miss our conversations when I come in through that office door. We would make time to visit and just talk about life in general — families, things going on in each other’s lives, and I really miss that,” Wilcomb said. 
While Wright occupies her life in retirement as a volunteer, Kalyn Houser is the new administrative assistant at First United Methodist Church. Wilcomb said Wright trained Houser before her retirement.