Some of what we know in Huntingdon today would not have been possible without the Wright Charitable Trust.
The Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center, Mudslingers Studio, the Carroll County Veterans Memorial at Thomas Park, and countless other contributions to local charities and civic organizations are part of the enduring legacy of a couple who had no children of their own.
In all, the trust has given away more than $2.2 million towards the betterment of the community.
That was the focus of the Huntingdon Historical Society’s meeting on Wednesday, October 21, at the Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center.
Mike Cary, president and CEO of Carroll Bank & Trust, covered the history of the couple for whom the trust is named and the many projects it has contributed to over the years.
The trust bears the names of Neill Allison “Doc” Wright and his wife, Bela Laverne Mebane Wright. Doc was born in 1909 into a family with deep roots in medicine, military service, and banking. Among his forebears was Dr. William Wright, a Huntingdon physician who served as a Confederate surgeon and later as a delegate to Tennessee’s 1870 Constitutional Convention.
Doc himself was a West Point graduate and Army officer. He came home to work at the Bank of Huntingdon, where his father was president.
The trust’s original purpose was caring for Clark Cemetery. The cemetery is named for Col. John Clark, a War of 1812 officer, and Doc was his last living descendant.
The trust’s broader reach came from Cary’s father, Billy M. Cary, whom Doc had chosen to oversee his estate.
Billy Cary saw that the trust held far more than the cemetery would ever need. In 1985, he drove to Sebring, Florida, to visit Bela, with his 15-year-old son Mike waiting in the car. There he asked her to add a codicil to her will so the money could improve life in Huntingdon, and she agreed. Billy Cary also invested the funds wisely, and the trust grew over the decades that followed.
The results are visible all over town. Beyond the arts and civic projects above, the trust has supported the Carl Perkins Center, Habitat for Humanity, the Carroll County Rescue Squad, the Inclusion Park, the museum, and Billy Cary Memorial Park, among others.
Its latest undertaking is the historic corner building in downtown Huntingdon that once housed the Carroll County News Leader. The trust now owns it, and an engineer has determined the structure can be saved.
Cary said the trust welcomes public ideas for the building’s future.
Among other recent contributions are the Carroll County Inclusion Park, as well as the new tennis/pickleball complex currently being constructed near Huntingdon High School.
“We’re trying to be good stewards of what Doc and Bela left and what Dad had a vision to expand,” Cary said.
The Huntingdon TN Historical Society meets the third Wednesday of each month at 9 a.m. at the Dixie. Its November 18 meeting will feature Col. James H. Harding for Veterans Day.