Precious Memories – John Braselton Fillmore Wright

He probably remembered Route 937, and the larger dot on the map known as Groesbeck that was just a little ways northwest of his childhood home.  It was another speck on the Texas map (see the state’s seal here), known as Hamlin, where John Braselton Fillmore Wright was letting his mind drift one night in 1923, as he thought about “Precious Memories”.  His mind’s eye conjured up images of a railroad too, and friendly folks aboard passing trains who waved anonymously at a curious youngster who’d become a fixture along their rail line journey. Both scenes had shaped the life of this middle-aged Texan up until that point in his life.

 J.B. F. Wright had plenty to draw upon as he wept and penned the special words of his “Precious Memories” during the dead of one autumn night in his 46^th year. His mind flowed back to his childhood in east-central Texas, of his mother and father and their home in Box Church, a tiny town down Route 937 from Groesbeck, which lies some 35 miles east of Waco. Perhaps John also recalled being at nearby Lake Limestone more times than he could count. But, besides the sights he might have recalled, it was the sounds that Wright pondered, particularly those of his parents.  They loved to sing, spurring a love of music in their son, and providing the foundation upon which he stood to produce, according to various accounts, between 200 and 500 songs over his lifetime.  So it was natural for John to feel deeply the loss of these mentor-parents in the early part of the 1900s, two events five years apart that stayed with him for the remainder of his life, including in 1923. Those weren’t the only episodes that filled his head one night, however. His young son Everett had suddenly died more than a year earlier, an event that still tormented him. The trains near Hamlin, Texas with the waving passengers that had intrigued the little boy also stuck with the father. ‘Where was the cute kid who so liked to wave?’, they must have wondered wistfully. And so, in Hamlin (north of Abilene, in north-central Texas), for whatever reason, Wright’s mind would not rest one night as he lay on his bed. The tears flowed, but he’d apparently learned that poetry and songs flowed therapeutically out of trials like this too.

John Wright may not have had much formal music training, but that didn’t stop him from composing. He’d attended one singing school near Hamlin for a few weeks, but spent his life vocationally as a farmer and later as a custodian and groundskeeper at a college. Perhaps that was all he needed to nurture the musical gene within – a seemingly unspectacular life that was nevertheless filled with cherished thoughts of home and family. His words tell of his formula for song-writing. Keep it simple, and don’t avoid memories, even painful ones. They just might be from God.

A brief biography of the composer is here: http://www.hymnary.org/person/Wright_JBF

Most complete story of the song story here, by Robert J. Taylor, in an excerpt of his book “A Song Is Born”: http://taylorpublications.com/image/data/html/hymnstory.html

For a stirring music video rendition of Wright’s song, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53Dpcnehu5Q

See here for map of area around composer’s hometown area: http://www.mapquest.com/us/tx/box-church