Provo couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary

PROVO — Eighty years together is something few couples ever achieve, but life together was seemingly effortless for one Provo couple.

Amos “Mose” L. Wright grew up on an Indian reservation and later moved in with his aunt so he could attend high school in Logan. When Gloria Hanson Wright first saw him, she said she “just went crazy.”

“I just fell in love at first sight when I saw him,” she said. She found out he was in a band class, so without even talking to her parents, she canceled her seminary class, transferred into the music class and learned oboe so she could be with him.

The two were immediately smitten with each other and had their first date at the “L” Ball at school. Even though he stepped on her dress a few times, the dance went well.

“(Gloria) outshone all the other girls. She was prettier and more outgoing. My heart was palpitating. I was excited,” Mose told KSL.com.

Mose graduated from high school and attended West Point, the U.S. Military Academy, where he kept a picture of his sweetheart in a locket and wrote her letters. When he graduated and returned to Utah, the two got married in the Logan temple on Oct. 24, 1945.

He was deployed to Germany right after the wedding, but his wife didn’t follow until six months later when she arrived with the first boatload of military wives. Since much of their relationship had been long-distance and she was still only 19, she was so nervous about being in a foreign country and seeing him again that she hid on the train.

Mose had to come find her on the train, and as soon as he saw her, “she felt like it was going to be OK,” their daughter, Becky Phillips, said.

Eighty years later, the Wrights have lived all over the world. Mose served in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, worked at the Pentagon, became a colonel in the military and worked for the Army Corps of Engineers. For one engineering project, he even became known as “the man who turned off Niagara Falls.”

Gloria was a talented pianist and musician and became one of the first full-time female seminary teachers in the Salt Lake area.

Together, they have five children, 22 grandchildren, 60 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

The couple ended up in Provo, where they have lived for the last three decades. Together, they served two church missions and have become the “grandma and grandpa of the neighborhood.” Mose received a Mayor’s Award from Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi in January. The Wrights also served as grand marshals at the Freedom Festival parade a few years ago.

“They really showed us what a great marriage was by supporting each other. They moved 38 times with the military and with other things throughout their life, but everywhere they went, they quickly made a place feel like home for us and were quickly involved with their community and church,” Phillips said. 

The two have loved and supported each other through many ups and downs over the years.

“Eighty years is a long time, and they’ve seen each other go through hard things and just really have been each other’s partner and strength,” Phillips said.

Phillips said her dad is always so respectful of her mom and, even after 80 years, he still opens her car door and pulls out her chair for her. In their later years, they take turns caring for each other.

“They’re just a great example of being wonderful parents and grandparents. They are great supporters, whether it’s going to a clogging competition for a grandchild or a dance recital for a great-grandchild or sending birthday cards, they have just done it all,” she said.

Phillips said her parents often joke that Chuck-A-Rama has been their key to a long life.

At 101 years old, Mose still tries to golf once a week, where he boasts that he can shoot a score less than his age. He and Gloria, now 99, still love life together.

When asked what the key to a long marriage is, Mose said the gospel of Christ, but also joked: “Always say, ‘Whatever you say, dear.'”

Gloria said the key is just love. “Loving each other is the key because I loved him so, and he loved me. And it worked!” she said.

She loves how much her husband loves music, saying, “There’s always music going wherever he is.” She said he always makes sure she gets into the car comfortably or gets put to bed well.

“He takes good care of me. He is sweet,” she said.

Mose said he loves his wife’s happy smile and cheerful disposition. He said it was hard to feel happy on their anniversary because she wasn’t feeling well and he was concerned about her. But he said he’s glad they have made it to their 80th anniversary, as “Who else does? Very, very few.”

The Wright family has postponed the anniversary celebration until Gloria feels better, but the kids did surprise their parents with a special yard sign on their big day.

“Wouldn’t be much of a life just by yourself. The two of us have produced wonderful, wonderful children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and we have the blessing of a lot of good family. That’s very, very precious,” Mose said.