Carolyn Marie Payne Wright, 70, died Monday, November 10, 2014 after a blessedly brief battle with breast cancer. She was born October 16, 1944 to James Harvey and Hazel Swecker Payne. She was the oldest of three daughters. Carolyn grew up in Patterson and graduated from Fort Chiswell High School. Afterward, she attended Radford College before marrying Carl Collin Wright, the love of her life, on August 24, 1963. Collin met Carolyn when she was 15 years old and they began dating soon thereafter. On September 30, 1964, Carolyn gave birth to their first child, Vickie Carol Wright Leathers, and five years later to their second, David James Wright, on December 29, 1969. Carolyn focused the better part of the next fifteen years on raising her children. She returned to school, at Western Kentucky University and received an Associate's degree in Secretarial Science and subsequently her Bachelor of Science in Business Education in 1982. From graduation onward, she would remain a school teacher until just a few short months before her passing. Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents, James Harvey and Hazel Payne and her sister Deborah Payne Walton. Carolyn is survived by her husband, Carl Collin Wright, of Wake Forest, NC; her daughter Vickie Wright Leathers (Laird) of Chattanooga, TN; and her son David James Wright (Teresita) of Lexington, NC. Carolyn also leaves behind five grandchildren, James Robert Carden, Matthew Stephen Carden, Isabella Nicole Wright, Nicolas Alexander Wright and Julia Nicole Wright, her sister Lois Ann Aker; and many nieces and nephews. The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm on Thursday, November 13 at Vaughan-Guynn Funeral Home in Hillsville, VA. The funeral service will be held at 1pm on Friday, November 14 at Vaughan-Guynn McGrady Chapel in Hillsville, VA with Reverend David Bays officiating. Interment will be at Dinwiddie Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Mitchell Crossroads in Hillsville, VA. Honorary pallbearers will be her nephews: Zane Saunders, Brian Saunders, Garth Saunders, Stephen Bowers, Joshua Bowers and Gregory Vass. Vaughan-Guynn-McGrady Chapel is serving the family.