January 17, 2016 (Sunday)
Johnny Wright was the 5th of 12 children in a family that moved to Box Church, Texas, in 1879, when he was two years old. His family was poor, and they sang together a lot. Years later, after getting married and moving across Texas, Johnny began writing songs. Perhaps his best known song is “Precious Memories,” which he characterized as “sanctified nostalgia,” not really a hymn.
I have driven through Box Church hundreds of times during the last 66 years. It’s just a few miles from Oletha, Wanda’s birthplace and location of the church that ordained me and where I was pastor as a student. I never knew until today that it was the childhood home of the man who wrote, “Precious Memories.” It is a greatly beloved song.
Read the story behind the song. Click here.
Keep all special thoughts and memories for lifetimes to come. Share these keepsakes with others to inspire hope and build from the past, which can bridge to the future. Mattie Stepanek |
Written by Johnny Wright in the 1920’s CHORUS: PRECIOUS MEMORIES, HOW THEY LINGER HOW THEY EVER FLOOD MY SOUL IN THE STILLNESS, OF THE MIDNIGHT PRECIOUS, SACRED SCENES UNFOLD VERSE#1 PRECIOUS MEMORIES, UNSEEN ANGELS SENT FROM SOMEWHERE TO MY SOUL HOW THEY LINGER, EVER NEAR ME AND THE SACRED PAST UNFOLD. VERSE#2 PRECIOUS FATHER, LOVING MOTHER FLY ACROSS THE LONELY YEARS; AND OLD HOME SCENES OF MY CHILD-HOOD IN FOND MEMORY APPEAR. VERSE#3 AS I TRAVEL, ON LIFE’S PATHWAY KNOW NOT WHAT THE YEARS MAY HOLD; AS I PONDER, HOPE GROWS FONDER PRECIOUS MEMORIES FLOOD MY SOUL. |
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