Nannie Louise Wright

Nannie Louise Wright (June 30, 1879 March 16, 1958) was an American composer, pianist, and music educator born in Fayette, Missouri. She graduated from Howard-Payne Junior College in Fayette and the Columbia School of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Wright studied piano with Mary Wood Chase in Chicago and with Josef Lhévinne in Berlin. She returned to Fayette to become the Director of Music at Howard- Payne College in 1909. Later, she served as President of the Missouri State Music Teachers’ Association and as Dean of Music at Central Methodist University’s Swinney Conservatory of Music in Fayette, where one of her students was William Gillock. Early life Wright was one of five children of Dr. Uriel Sebree Wright and Carrie Shafroth Wright. At the age of five, she started piano lessons from her mother. At the age of ten, her piano skills were advanced enough that she succeeded her late mother as organist at the First Baptist Church of Fayette. Career After graduations, Wright returned to Howard-Payne to teach. She eventually succeeded Marion Eloise Lasher as director of instrumental music in 1906. In this position, the music department at Howard-Payne expanded to include more music his