A week ago Sunday, Miriam Britt celebrated her 92nd birthday. A woman of grace and grit, she has more energy and love within her small frame than many two-thirds her age.

A female entrepreneur who began a sandwich business when WWII rations were still in effect, she has been an inspiration to family, friends and the community at large.

This year, she will be the grand marshal of the Harvest Pecan Festival.

Ask folks around Columbus County if they’ve ever eaten a “Mrs. Bright’s sandwich” and it’s more than likely “yes” will be the answer given.
Their response will usually be accompanied by a smile as they remember their favorite flavor or way of eating it. For a good number of people, that would be toasted, as the sandwiches could be prepared at Simmons Drug Store or other such marts.

Ninety-two years ago, Mrs. Bright was just a little baby born to parents who already had three girls and two boys. Miriam was their last child.

“I’ve been told the pay train was there when I was born,” says Mrs. Bright, eyes alight and humor sounding in her voice.

The daughter of a father who worked for the Atlantic Coast Line railroad, she’s aware of how important the pay train was in the community and cognizant that it would be something people would associate with her entrance into the world. Especially as her family’s house was “down the railroad tracks, about a mile outside of Whiteville.”

Bright’s mother died when she was 10-years-old, having suffered a stroke when coming back from a mid-week prayer meeting led by Miriam’s dad. After her mother’s death, Miriam lived with her sister, Mae Hooks, who lived “out in the country on the Clarkton Road.”

The years passed and Miriam married Dewitt Bright the same month she graduated from high school. When they moved into a small upstairs apartment in Whiteville, Dewitt was driving a truck for the Coca-Cola Company.

In January 1940, the Brights moved into the home on Franklin Street they’d had built the year before. Mrs. Bright has lived there ever since. She is the proud mother of two sons, Warren Hasty Bright and William Keith Bright. She also has three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Her sandwich business began “August 9, 1945, when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima,” Mrs. Bright said, clearly remembering the exact date due to the context of world war.

“We had some chickens in the back yard,” Mrs. Bright remembers. “We wanted to sell them. A lady in Bolton told (my husband) ‘tell your wife to make sandwiches and sell them.’” So that’s what she did.

Bright said she thought, “Maybe I’ll make enough to buy me a new electric stove. Three stoves later, I was still in the sandwich business.”

Lots of people in Columbus County are glad she was. “Everybody’s had a Mrs. Bright’s sandwich. She’s an icon,” said Suzanne King, a member of the Pecan Harvest Festival executive committee. King said she’s delighted that Mrs. Bright will be in the parade and such a special part of this year’s festival.

Bright still stays active in her 90s. Her grandson, Steven, is now the third generation of Brights to run the family business, located behind his grandmother’s house in Whiteville. He says his grandmother is “still real active in the community and the Sunshine Group at (First Baptist) church.

“She’s a very, very intelligent person. I’m not the only one who thinks this,” Steven continues. “I think the whole community really cares for her.”

Steven’s mom, Myrtle (wife of Warren), worked with Mrs. Bright making sandwiches until Mrs. Bright handed over the business to her in 1983.

Myrtle understands why the community’s sentiment is so positive toward her mother-in-law. She notes: “(Mrs. Bright) is very generous and loving. I’m not just saying that because she’s family. She’s that way with everyone. When you see her, she smiles. I think she’s one of the greatest ladies I know of.”

Mrs. Bright cared for her disabled husband for years. Now, Myrtle does the same. Yet, you never hear either woman complain. Steven expresses deep appreciation for the examples set by his mother and grandmother.

When asked about what she liked most about the sandwich business, Mrs. Bright will tell you, “I enjoyed it because I love people. I enjoyed going out and being in the public and meeting the people I was doing business with. I still have contact with some of those people, and it’s a real joy.”

When queried about why she worked so hard for so many years and is still staying active, she’ll say: ‘That’s what we’re supposed to do. The Lord gave us the ability to work, and we’re supposed to work for what (we) have.”