Mabel Martin Wyrick (9 March 1913 – 12 October 2003) was an American writer. Her published books include ''If Quilts Could Talk... I'd Listen'', ''Tales of the Rails'', ''How to Bury a Drifter'', ''The Ultimate Irony'', ''Factual Folklore'', and ''Land Beneath the Lake''. Her work has also been published in collections of Appalachian writing. Wyrick wrote weekly

newspaper column A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication, where a writer expresses their own opinion in few columns allotted to them by the newspaper organisation. Columns are written by columnists. What differen ...

s for several years called "If Quilts Could Talk ... I'd Listen" and "Land Beneath the Lake". Her columns were regularly featured in several

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

, including the '' Corbin Times Tribune'', the ''Sentinel-Echo'', the ''Berea Citizen'', ''Appalachian Heritage'', and ''Back Home in Kentucky''. She also published six books, three of which told the stories of early life in the hills of Southeastern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

. She also published two books of fiction which were set in the

Laurel County, Kentucky Laurel County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 62,613. Its county seat is London. After a special election in January 2016 alcohol sales are permitted only ...

area, and one book of railroad tales as told to her by her second husband, Wilson L. Wyrick. She married Lohren F. Martin, Sr. on 23 November 1929, and moved to his family's farm on Muddy Gut Creek in Laurel County. They had five children, one of whom died as a toddler. During this time, Wyrick primarily ran the household and farmed. However, she also worked outside the home during the

auction An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition e ...

s at the Dean-Planters Tobacco Warehouse in

London, Kentucky London is a home rule-class city in Laurel County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 7,993 at the time of the 2010 census. It is the second-largest city named "London" in the United States and the ...

. After her husband's death in 1976, Wyrick moved to

Corbin, Kentucky Corbin is a home rule-class city in Whitley, Knox and Laurel counties in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,304. Corbin is on Interstate 75, about halfway between Kno ...

, where she quickly became involved in the community. She was instrumental in beginning a library for the Senior Citizen's Center by gathering books herself and soliciting donations for books from many of the Corbin merchants and residents. She also volunteered in the Adult Literacy project and taught several people to read because she found so much enjoyment in reading herself. Wyrick began her writing career in 1978 at the request of the

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, ...

of ''Corbin Times Tribune''. Her first newspaper columns described her experiences while traveling in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Ho ...

. She quickly expanded her columns to tell stories from her childhood as well as stories passed down through her friends and family. Her unique style allowed the reader to peek in at life during a simpler time when neighbors lived, worked, laughed, cried, and worshipped together. As a result, her columns were an instant success. She coined the term “Factual Folklore” to describe her writing - tales based on fact which have been passed down through the generations. In a 1999 interview with the ''

Lexington Herald The ''Lexington Herald-Leader'' is a newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and based in Lexington, Kentucky. According to the ''1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook'', the paid circulation of the ''Herald-Leader'' is the second large ...

'', Wyrick said that, “Factual folklore is my link between

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, r ...

and history. It's the history that wasn't written down, but should have been.”

References

External links

Kentucky Ham - Mabel Martin Wyrick (1987)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyrick, Mabel Martin 1913 births 2003 deaths 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers People from Corbin, Kentucky People from Laurel County, Kentucky Writers from Kentucky 21st-century American women