Cemetery walk offers a glimpse into the past

May 13, 2024 Last Updated: May 12, 2024 07:52 PM Local News

Millard Wright, portrayed by Thom Hilliard, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

The tale of one respected man’s fall to ruin in Butler County at the turn of the 20th century has the same cautionary wrappings as the stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but is just one detail in the biography of Millard Wright, a water treatment executive whose son died after drinking contaminated water.

Wright’s story, the story of his ex-wife, Margaret Ann Wright, as well as those of other former Butler residents were told by a cast of actors at North Main Cemetery on Saturday, May 11 as part of the Echoes of Our Past Cemetery Walk hosted by the Butler County Historical Society.

As the rain poured down, actors held firm.

Millard and Margaret Wright, portrayed by Thom Hilliard and Sharon Chernick, tell attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk their story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, checks her headstone during the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Nancy Pakutz, portrayed by Kathleen Edwards, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Samuel H. Young, portrayed by Stuart Ford, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk journey through North Side Cemetery in Butler on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Millard and Margaret Wright, portrayed by Thom Hilliard and Sharon Chernick, tell attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk their story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, checks her headstone during the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nancy Pakutz, portrayed by Kathleen Edwards, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Millard Wright, portrayed by Thom Hilliard, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nancy Pakutz, portrayed by Kathleen Edwards, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Samuel H. Young, portrayed by Stuart Ford, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Nellie Pearl Balph, portrayed by Alyssa Bruno Walls, tells attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk her story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk journey through North Side Cemetery in Butler on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)
Attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk journey through North Side Cemetery in Butler on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle (5/11/2024)

Thom Hilliard, of Butler, joined Sharon Chernick, also of Butler, in telling the Wright family story. Between historical details, the two offered their own insights into the emotional lives of the wealthy couple, who had seven children.

In the early 1900s, Margaret Ann Wright divorced her husband, which was unusual for the time.

Hilliard wore spectacles, a suit, waistcoat and a pocket watch chain to help get into character.

Hilliard and Chernick explained that Millard Wright drank heavily, even more so after his 12-year-old son, Paul, died of typhoid fever, which he would have caught by drinking contaminated water, a tragic irony given the waterworks superintendent’s profession.

“He was well-known, he was well-respected in town, but when his son died of drinking contaminated water that he was supposed to protect people from, I am sure that really led him to drinking heavily,” Hilliard said in between presentations.

“It’s the era in which he grew up, and was raised and behaviors then were such that ‘men don’t cry,’” he said. “That means they internalize everything.”

Hilliard referred to Margaret Ann Wright as Millard Wright’s “long-suffering wife.”

“The woman was a very strong woman who just put up with the type of man her husband was,” Chernick said.

From maintaining a reputable position in the Butler community, Millard Wright died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1927 in Butler’s “poor farm,” a facility for paupers.

Hilliard said he is not certain how Millard Wright ended up in the facility, only that he is documented to have retired suddenly.

Millard Wright died having “lost everything,” Hilliard said.

After the divorce in the early 1900s, Margaret Ann Wright moved in with her daughter and son-in-law in Kansas, later returning to Butler. She was buried in the family plot, Chernick said.

Other people’s stories included Carl Hallberg, who served in World War II, Nellie Pearl Balph, a professional musician, and Nancy Pakutz, who served as a nurse in the 95th Evacuation Unit in Vietnam and died of complications from Agent Orange.

Actor Kathleen Edwards shared Pakutz’s story, telling participants about the challenges she encountered in the military as a female medic, and the obstacles to being recognized for her service after the war.

“I think that we’re so caught up in the day to day, living life, that I think people don’t really think much about their past and where they come from,” Chernick said after her presentation. “I think it’s important to make that connection between years ago and how things were, to now.”

Attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk journey through North Side Cemetery in Butler on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle

Carl O. Hallberg, portrayed by Joseph Szalinski, regals attendees of the Butler County Historical Society's Annual Cemetery Walk with his story at North Side Cemetery on Saturday, May 11. Morgan Phillips/Butler Eagle