Alice Wright Algood

View Funeral WebcastOn a snowy March the 11th, 1926, a daughter, Alice, was born to Patricia Cordelia Smith Wright and Aubrey Buren Wright at King's Daughters Hospital, Columbia, TN, and for 45 years she lived on Athenaeum Street, less than two blocks from where she was born. Alice Wright Algood, 84, died on March 16, 2010.Funeral services will be conducted Saturday at 1:00 p.m. at Zion Presbyterian Church with Rev. Arch Warren officiating. Burial will follow in Friendship Cemetery in Culleoka. The family will visit with friends Friday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Oakes & Nichols. Memorials may be made to Zion Christian Academy, 6901 Old Zion Road, Columbia 38401 or The Polk Presidential Hall, P. O. Box 741, Columbia 38402. Notes of sympathy may be sent to www.oakesandnichols.com.This true Maury County native and seventh generation Tennessean was devoted to her faith, her family, her community, and her nation. Her youth was spent in Culleoka and Columbia, and while her father, Aubrey Wright, taught at Columbia Military Academy, she began what would become a life long love and commitment to the school. She was a member of the Central High School Class of 1942, graduated at St. Agnes in Memphis, and attended Louisiana State University.A contralto with the Nashville Symphony at its inception, Mrs. Algood sang with the symphony at The Ryman Auditorium and continued her joy in the art as a member of the Columbia Choral Society, the choirs of Garden Street Presbyterian Church, Zion Presbyterian Church, and First Presbyterian Church, where she met her future husband, Reuben Algood. She also lent her time and talent to St. Catherine Catholic Church and St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Friendship Baptist Church in Culleoka was built on land given by her ancestors and she retained her membership there for many years.Her role in preservation throughout the nation, and specifically in Tennessee, placed her in the role of President of the Association of Preservation of Antiquities (APTA), President of the Tennessee State Museum Foundation, a member of the Tennessee Historic Commission, and was currently Chairman of the Tennessee Governor's Residence Foundation. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by the Senate of the United States to a 10-year term on the National Museum Services Board.Active for many years in the Republican Party, she believed in the clarity and wisdom with which the Founding Fathers provided the citizens of the United States a system of good governance and stood steadfast by her convictions. She was Tennessee's Republican National Committee Woman, Vice-Chairman of the Republican Party in Tennessee, a delegate to three National Republican Conventions and was active in numerous campaigns. She was a member of the Maury County Planning Commission, and in 1997 was awarded the Lucille Queener Courtney Community Service Award.Her love and knowledge of history and genealogy was generously shared with the many who sought their roots in Middle Tennessee. She was among those who reconstituted the Maury County Historical Society, and collaborated on several books concerning Maury County, most recently the Historical Society's "Historic Maury County: People and Places." She and her husband, Reuben C. Algood, were responsible for the donation of the Athenaeum Rectory to the APTA, and she served on the initial board dedicated to the restoration of Rippavilla Plantation. For many years she served in various offices of the local organization to shepherd the house through its restoration and maintenance as a significant historic site. For her, genealogy was very much like the crossword puzzles that she loved and did everyday in that it was solving puzzles, and she reveled in the solutions. Hours in libraries and repositories both in the United States and England led her to the completion of a book on her immigrant ancestor, Ursula Bysshe Thompson Mottrom Colclough of Northumberland County, VA and a lineage that dates to the 11th century. She was a member of the Tenassee Chapter, Daughters of American Revolution, the Capt. James Madison Sparkman Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and James K. Polk Memorial Association.A much beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Alice Wright was married to John Robert Hartley by whom she had a daughter, Patricia Grace and for 55 years to Reuben Clark Algood by whom she had a daughter Rebecca Clark. She is survived by her daughters Patricia Algood Junkin, and her husband G. Bruce Junkin, and Rebecca Algood Moon; her grandchildren Jefferson Bruce Junkin and his wife, Gabriela, William Clark Moon, and Bennett Rebecca Moon; and her great grandson, Jesse Caleb Junkin, born February 27, 2010.Active pallbearers are John Hilboldt, Dennis Beavers, Mike Prince, James Algood, David Algood, Parker Smith Wright, Richard Quin, Richard Algood, Jefferson Bruce Junkin and William Clark Moon.Honorary Pallbearers include Roupen and Bitsy Gulbenk, Steve and Kathie Fuston, John and Camille Allen, James Borum, John Wilkinson, Frank and Barbara Outhier, Neil and Bess Lord, Darrel and Kay Kay Sharp.