The Wyrick House

This is where we live today. 

It sits at the top of a hill here in south-west Missouri. The house was built in 1921 when the Wyricks lived here on an 80 acre farm. I got to know the last of the Wyricks shortly after we moved here. In fact we have met all (just three families) of this old house’s owners who have ever lived here. The house had been home to not only the original Wyricks, but many of the in-laws, nephews and other folks. The old 1935 garage has the names of the original Wyrick boys who built it chalked on the inside walls. The upstairs attic was once walled in by home care givers who hid antiques behind those walls, thinking that they would get the house and then recover the antique treasures hidden behind those walls. The house sits back more than 70 feet from the road, which is unusual for farm homes in this area. Most are built just a few feet from the road so in bad weather the old-time residents could get to the old dirt roads that were once common here. The farm once had dairy cows, but even back in the thirties, the family’s main income was federal government checks. The last of the Wyricks started coming here each year to visit on his birthday. He was legally blind and could not maintain the place or drive or support himself. He lived out his life in an old folks home and his minister would drive him out here as a birthday present so he could see the place of his birth and most of his life. I would walk with him around the grounds and through the house. He would be nearly in tears as he walked around and remembered so many events in his life here. When he died, one of his grand nephews and two of his grand nephews left the funeral and came out to see the farm one last time. They were all in tears as the nephew walked them around the grounds and through the house. The nephew spent his summers here as a boy. The only requirement was kids staying here through the summer had to learn to play tennis on a dirt court that was leveled out near the garage. It was, is the only level spot on the farm here. Though we have been here for more than 25 years now, when I speak to people around our local small town and they ask where I live, they cannot picture exactly where our home is until I say “The old Wyrick house,” and then they know exactly where we live.