Some Families of Damascus, Virginia, Part XIV

The Larger Family of Dave and Pearl Osborne Wright
by Glenn N. Holliman

In 1938, two cousins and an aunt from Bristol, Tennessee visited Doris Osborne Akers (1913-1980) and Gladys Osborne Adema (1914-1998) at the home of Dave and Pearl Osborne Wright (1890-1980) in Damascus, Virginia.  The two cousins were my Aunt Louise Stansbery Sherwood (1915-2006) and my mother, Geraldine Stansbery Holliman Feick (1923-2015).  Their mother, my grandmother, Mayme Osborne Stansbery (1896-1943) was with them.

Posed in front of the Wright Inn (their home) in Damsacus in the late 1930s is from left to right Doris, Louise, Mayme, Geraldine and Gladys.

In 1938, America was still emerging from the Great Depression, Hitler was grabbing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia, and in Damascus, the Civilian Conservation Corp was about to close down its forest restoration projects.  The United States was entering a debate on whether a huge arms build up was necessary to counter the growing militarism of Japan and Germany.  The world stood at the cusp of violent change and war.

In 2011, numerous America wars later, the only survivor of the group photo, Geraldine, returned with her son, Glenn N. Holliman (yours truly b 1946) and one of the sons of Gladys, Bob Adema, on the left. We stood in front of the old Wright Inn, now owned by others.  Yes, just as in 1938, the country was emerging from a Great Recession, but fortunately today our Asian wars are winding down, not up.