‘She was the sweetest person.’ 200 celebrate Hilton Head grandma who fought for her land
Most of the world knew Josephine Wright in the last months of her life as the Hilton Head Island grandma who fought developers trying to acquire her land. Her funeral service made it clear she was much more than that.
Those close to Josephine Wright knew her as a shoulder to cry on, a caring mother to all, an artful pianist, a God-loving parishioner and someone who puts “a whole lotta rum” in fruitcake.
About 200 people attended Wright’s funeral at Hilton Head’s Mt. Calvary Baptist Church Saturday. There were more smiles and laughter than tears. The 94-year-old died Jan. 7. Members of her family, community and church spoke, sang and commemorated Wright’s life.
“It was a privilege and an honor to have known her,” Deacon Dayne Wright said at the service. “One thing I can say about Sister Wright is that if she said it, she meant it, and you could put a period behind it.”
The deacon mentioned how Wright taught herself the piano, earning the nickname “Sister Toscanini,” after the Italian musician. Speakers mentioned this nickname much more than they mentioned her fight with developers suing her in what she feared was a financial bullying tactic to get her to leave her land. They touched on the lawsuit two or three times in the context of her bravery and tenacity, but almost every one called Wright “Sister Toscanini.”
In fact, her parish used the nickname so often that it took months for Reverend Dr. Deonia Simmons to discover Wright’s real name from a signature on a Christmas card. When he apologized for not knowing it he said Wright replied, “Oh Rev, that doesn’t matter, I don’t mind.”
It was the same Christmas Wright baked fruitcakes and told Simmons to be careful: “yours gotta whole lotta rum in it.” Simmons spoke about a four-foot-eleven-inch little old lady who sometimes walked with a tool belt around her hips fixing furniture and “putting the men in this church to shame.” He called her a classy, sharp, dresser and an inspiration at 94.
Everyone who spoke, including Simmons mentioned Wright’s commitment to God. The congregation could count on her sitting in the front row every Sunday. Most times she sat with 97-year-old Margaret Stewart, her “pew partner.”
“She was the sweetest person on earth,” Stewart said. After Wright drove up to church in her Cadillac and got seated, they’d laugh, sing and celebrate God. Stewart’s daughter, Belinda, called Wright the “type of grandma you want to be.”
But Wright took care of more than her 40 grandchildren, 50 great-grandchilden and four great-great-grandchildren. She took care of the community, speakers said.
“It’s my prayer that each of you will find comfort in knowing who she was,” Simmons said. “She was saved, that’s more important than anything. If there’s anybody who’s going to be with the Lord, it’s her.”
Wright will be buried in the Beaufort National Cemetery Jan. 16.
