Tressa M. Wright

Tressa Marie Wright, age 18, of  Atkinson, went to Heaven on  Saturday,  Jan. 21, 2012, as a result of a car accident.

Visitation was held from 5-8 p.m. with a 7 p.m. prayer service on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at the Seger Funeral Home in Atkinson.

Funeral services were held on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, at 10 a.m. at the Faith Wesleyan Church in Atkinson, with Pastor Tim Wilson officiating. Music was provided by organist, Karen Sperling and vocalist, Karla Slaymaker and the congregation.

Pallbearers were Jered Saar, Steve Hansen, Steve Schlueter, Katie Fredrick, Alison Klinger and Alex Briener.

Honorary pallbearers were all of Tressa's friends.

Burial was in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Atkinson.

Seger Funeral Home of Atkinson was in charge of arrangements.

Tressa was born on Oct. 14, 1993, in Woodland, CA, to Tyler and Kim (Dillon) Wright. She was born at 5:12 in the morning during a great downpour of rain. Heaven was crying with joy at her birth. She loved life even as a baby, as she would not stay in her crib after nine months. She climbed out and would go see what was going on. She would sit in her highchair and eat spaghetti-o's one at a time and poke her finger in the circle and eat it. If the circle broke then she rubbed it in her hair.

Tressa moved to O'Neill in January of 1995. She went to day-care and spent sometime in the corner in time-out. In 1997 she moved to Atkinson. Tressa attended  kindergarten through fifth grade at the Atkinson Grade School. She made friends there that lasted her whole life. 

She attended sixth through eight grade at the Atkinson Junior High School. One day the fire alarm went off and kids packed outside only to find out there was no fire. The teachers questioned everyone and Tressa did the right thing and stood up and admitted she did it. She had pulled on the alarm thinking it would do nothing. 

Tressa attended West Holt High School her freshman year through October of her senior year when she transferred to O'Neill High School. She attended school at O'Neill until her death.

Tressa played the saxophone in the band for seven years. She participated in cross country, track, golf and FCCLA. She worked at Subway in Atkinson for three years and attended Sunday school and youth group at Faith Wesleyan Church in Atkinson. She was able to go to California and stand in the ocean in the summer of 2011.

Tressa wanted to become a psychologist or study the brain and how the mind worked. She was interested in how differently people thought and why they thought that way.

She loved life, music (especially Bob Marley), being with her friends, driving around and doing her friends and families hair and makeup. She had a heart of gold and would help anyone who asked. She believed in peace, love and God. She could be shy until she got to know you, then you would see the most amazing person. Tressa was a beautiful, sweet person with many friends and family that love her.

Tressa is survived by her parents, Kim Wright of Atkinson and Tyler Wright of O'Neill; three sisters, Karissa and Gabrielle Wright of Atkinson and Cheyenne Wright of O'Neill; one brother, Xander Wright of O'Neill; grandparents, Norm and Gwen Peterson of Page, Brad and Connie Dillon of Ainsworth, Shirley Chmiel of O'Neill and Larry and Vickie Kepler of Texas; many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

Her grandfathers, Royce Wright and Alan Chmiel and uncle, J.R. Kepler preceded her in death.