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Far from Home: Memories of World War II and Afterward
“She’s got no more business there than a pig has with a Bible.” That’s what her father said when Mary Herring announced that she would be moving to Washington, DC, in late1942. Recently graduated from the North Carolina School for Black Deaf and Blind Students, Mary had been invited to the nation’s capital by a cousin to see a specialist about her hearing loss. Though nothing could be done about her deafness, Mary quickly proved her father wrong by passing the civil service examination with high marks. Far from Home: Memories of World War II and Afterward, the second installment of her autobiography, describes her life from her move to Washington to the present.
Mary soon became a valued employee for the Navy, maintaining rosters for the many servicemen in war theaters worldwide. Her remarkable gift for detail depicts Washington in meticulous layers, a sleepy Southern town force-grown into a dynamic geopolitical hub. Life as a young woman amid the capital’s Black middle class could be warm and fun, filled with visits from family and friends, and trips home to Iron Mine for tearful, joyous reunions. But the reality of the times was never far off. On many an idyllic afternoon, she and her friends found somber peace in Arlington Cemetery, next to the grave of the sole Unknown Soldier at that time. During an evening spent at the U.S.O., one hearing woman asked how people like her could dance, and Mary answered, “With our feet.” She became a pen pal to several young servicemen, but did not want to know why some of them suddenly stopped writing.
Despite the close friends and good job that she had in Washington, the emotional toll caused Mary to return to her family home in Iron Mine, NC. There, she rejoined her family and resumed her country life. She married and raised four daughters, and recounts the joys and sorrows she experienced through the years, particularly the loss of her parents. Her blend of the gradual transformation of Southern rural life with momentous events such as Hurricane Hazel creates an extraordinary narrative history. The constant in Far from Home remains the steady confidence that Mary Herring Wright has in herself, making her new memoir a perfect companion to her first.
Mary soon became a valued employee for the Navy, maintaining rosters for the many servicemen in war theaters worldwide. Her remarkable gift for detail depicts Washington in meticulous layers, a sleepy Southern town force-grown into a dynamic geopolitical hub. Life as a young woman amid the capital’s Black middle class could be warm and fun, filled with visits from family and friends, and trips home to Iron Mine for tearful, joyous reunions. But the reality of the times was never far off. On many an idyllic afternoon, she and her friends found somber peace in Arlington Cemetery, next to the grave of the sole Unknown Soldier at that time. During an evening spent at the U.S.O., one hearing woman asked how people like her could dance, and Mary answered, “With our feet.” She became a pen pal to several young servicemen, but did not want to know why some of them suddenly stopped writing.
Despite the close friends and good job that she had in Washington, the emotional toll caused Mary to return to her family home in Iron Mine, NC. There, she rejoined her family and resumed her country life. She married and raised four daughters, and recounts the joys and sorrows she experienced through the years, particularly the loss of her parents. Her blend of the gradual transformation of Southern rural life with momentous events such as Hurricane Hazel creates an extraordinary narrative history. The constant in Far from Home remains the steady confidence that Mary Herring Wright has in herself, making her new memoir a perfect companion to her first.
232 pages, Paperback
First published March 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 18, 2015
An enjoyable if rambling memoir, like sitting down on someone's porch on a summer evening and getting the story of their life, which is what a memoir is. Mrs Wright continues where she left off: she finds war work on the night shift in the Pentagon, working on the files of sailors in action. Were the black women kept to the night shift as a form of segregation? Wright doesn't care; they got paid more for working nights, and she was glad of the income. We read of her first love and loss. The family gets her a box-type hearing aid that doesn't help, though somehow she can hear the static, and there's a strange story of her being able to hear piano music at a distance occasionally; then nothing. The story of her life continues through marriage and motherhood, to the present day when Gaulladette University gave her an honorary degree (though we are never told what in.)
Once again, no real mention of racial issues, beyond a passing mention of the "back of the bus" incident--and that without naming Rosa Parks by name. Mrs Wright only chronicles those events that affected her directly; perhaps her deafness isolated her from the media news, or perhaps that isolation was self-chosen. It would certainly be in line with her near-obsessive attachment to her childhood home and family. While reading this, it occurred to me that the author was a soulmate of Pat of Silver Bush. The decades pass, only noted by the birth and growth of her own children as they go to school, but here the narrative breaks down somewhat. One minute her daughter is in middle school--and the next she's driving the schoolbus??
Wright's ambivalence toward marriage persists; at a time when a girl's wedding was one of the high points of her life, we are given next to no information about hers. Her husband hardly gets a mention throughout the book except when he's made some silly mistake with the kids, or to comment on his absence at important events (such as childbirth or graduations) due to being at work. This ambivalence extends to the beloved members of her family: when her widowed father marries again, she notes that "she was glad he was happy"--but she never mentions her stepmother's name, and Daddy drops out of the narrative until his death. Married siblings, even those who live close by, disappear from her memoirs. Issues, mine thinkit; serious issues.
Less well-written than the first volume of Wright's memoirs, and rather sketchy. I was surprised that her "college days" and honorary degree were scamped over.
Once again, no real mention of racial issues, beyond a passing mention of the "back of the bus" incident--and that without naming Rosa Parks by name. Mrs Wright only chronicles those events that affected her directly; perhaps her deafness isolated her from the media news, or perhaps that isolation was self-chosen. It would certainly be in line with her near-obsessive attachment to her childhood home and family. While reading this, it occurred to me that the author was a soulmate of Pat of Silver Bush. The decades pass, only noted by the birth and growth of her own children as they go to school, but here the narrative breaks down somewhat. One minute her daughter is in middle school--and the next she's driving the schoolbus??
Wright's ambivalence toward marriage persists; at a time when a girl's wedding was one of the high points of her life, we are given next to no information about hers. Her husband hardly gets a mention throughout the book except when he's made some silly mistake with the kids, or to comment on his absence at important events (such as childbirth or graduations) due to being at work. This ambivalence extends to the beloved members of her family: when her widowed father marries again, she notes that "she was glad he was happy"--but she never mentions her stepmother's name, and Daddy drops out of the narrative until his death. Married siblings, even those who live close by, disappear from her memoirs. Issues, mine thinkit; serious issues.
Less well-written than the first volume of Wright's memoirs, and rather sketchy. I was surprised that her "college days" and honorary degree were scamped over.
July 12, 2014
This book reads like a personal diary or a stream of personal thoughts. I'd give it 2 1/2 stars, it was semi-interesting but nothing amazing.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews