Mabel Martin Wyrick. 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.

Wyrick wrote weekly newspaper column

Column (newspaper)

A column is a recurring piece or article in a newspaper, magazine or other publication. Columns are written by columnists.What differentiates a column from other forms of journalism is that it meets each of the following criteria:...

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

Periodical publication

Periodical literature is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar examples are the newspaper, often published daily, or weekly; or the magazine, typically published weekly, monthly or as a quarterly...

, including the Corbin Times Tribune

The Times-Tribune (Corbin, Kentucky)

The Times-Tribune is a six-day afternoon daily newspaper based in Corbin, Kentucky, and covering Knox, Laurel and Whitley counties in that state...

, 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

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

. She also published two books of fiction

Fiction

Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...

 which were set in the Laurel County, Kentucky

Laurel County, Kentucky

Laurel County is a county in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The population was 58,849 in the 2010 Census. Its county seat is London.The London Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Laurel County....

 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

Auction

An auction is a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bid, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder...

s at the Dean-Planters Tobacco Warehouse in London, Kentucky

London, Kentucky

-Education:All of the following schools are administered by the Laurel County School District.-Primary schools:* * * * * * * * * * * * -High schools:* * -Colleges:* Laurel Technical College* * -Notable natives:...

. After her husband’s death in 1976, Wyrick moved to Corbin, Kentucky

Corbin, Kentucky

- Economy :Originally formed by L&N Railroad, rail transport was the backbone of the local economy in the first half of the twentieth century. While the railroad continues to play an important role, the decline of the rail industry in the latter half of the twentieth century, as well as the loss...

, 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

Editor in chief

An editor-in-chief is a publication's primary editor, having final responsibility for the operations and policies. Additionally, the editor-in-chief is held accountable for delegating tasks to staff members as well as keeping up with the time it takes them to complete their task...

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

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

. 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

Lexington Herald-Leader

The Lexington Herald-Leader is a newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and based in the U.S. city of Lexington, Kentucky. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the Herald-Leaders paid circulation is the second largest in the Commonwealth of Kentucky...

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

Folklore

Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...

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