Elizabeth Carroll Wright

October 23, 1912 ~ December 25, 2013
Elizabeth Carroll Wright’s life began with a long journey out of Old Mexico and 101 years later her journey through life was successfully completed with dignity and grace.  
Her mother was seven months pregnant with Beth when their family left Mexico in 1912 at the outbreak of civil strive.
The Carroll family headed to El Paso, and eventually traveled by wagon to Utah, where they joined other relatives in a new community in southeastern Utah.
Beth was born October 23, 1912 shortly after her family arrived in Grayson.  There was no electricity in the tiny town, which had only been settled seven years earlier.  People used wood for their fuel.  Water came from a ditch, unless there was a drought.
Her father cleared sagebrush before he could farm.  Such was the difficult life in which Beth was raised.  
Over the next 100 years, she saw Blanding change in every way possible: roads, businesses, homes, schools, technology, and medicine.  But the importance of family, church, and friends remained constant and unchanged in her life.  
Beth died peacefully on December 25, 2013 at the home of her daughter Colleen.  She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2012 with a large Centennial party organized by her daughter.  She lived in her own home until November 2013, when she moved in with Colleen at age 101.  
Her mental prowess and friendliness were intact all her life, and she loved having visitors.  Beth spent her whole life working and giving service to her family and the Blanding First LDS ward, where she was a member all of her 100 years.  She was a skilled quilter, and active in the Senior Citizens, where she loved to visit and join others in a good game of cards.
Beth had many cousins who were close friends and family gatherings were always a big event.  School and Church provided wonderful entertainment that Beth loved in her early years, such as silent movies, dramas, readings, sports, sledding, and musical programs.  Dances in the “hall below” were her favorite, especially during the Christmas holidays when there was a dance every night.  It’s likely she put on her dancing shoes when she crossed the veil on Christmas, and hasn’t stopped dancing since. 
Waiting to join her on the other side are her husband Earl Nathan Wright (died in 1987); son-in-law Jon D. Shinkle; parents Annie and James Carroll, seven brothers: Clarence, Vivan, Willard, Lester, Tom, Thell and Denton Carroll, and many other close relatives.  She is the last of Blanding’s Homesteader generation. 
She is survived by daughters Colleen W. (Jon) Shinkle and Julie Ann W. (B.J.) Nix, and grandsons Zac (Shae) Shinkle and Levi (Elena) Shinkle.  Her funeral was December 30 in the Blanding South LDS Chapel. She is interred in the Blanding Cemetery.