WRIGHT - Greg and Bea Parker were both 49 years old when they moved here in 1983, and they were amongst the oldest residents in this community that had just sprung to life with coal mining in the 1970s.

Bea remembers introducing herself to a little girl who lived next door and what a shock it was for the girl to see someone who was all of 49 years.

"She said, 'Boy, are you old,"' said Parker.

Parker must have had the diplomatic skills of a politician, because she went on to become Wright's first mayor after its incorporation in 1985. Parker served two 2-year terms as mayor, then she and her husband moved to Anaconda, Mont.

On Saturday, the couple returned to help their friends celebrate Wright's 20th anniversary as an incorporated town. In an address to residents gathered outside Town Hall, Parker ribbed her former neighbors about the destruction wrought on the town by an F-2 tornado just a week ago.

"I must say I left town in a little bit better shape than it is today," said Parker.

Such light-hearted remarks are well-received in this small town where people can be perfectly frank with one another. That's the kind of comradeship that develops in a community of only a few hundred, especially when it's isolated on the wide Powder River Basin plains with only two highways to look at.

It was an exciting time to live in Wright in the 1980s, said Parker. Residents loved the smallness and the close sense of community. But at the same time, the community was growing and facing real needs like law-enforcement, fire protection and emergency medical services "all those things that as a new town you don't have," said Parker.

Until its incorporation, Wright didn't have any money to spend on these services. Once incorporated, Wright received a $10,000 donation from the Thunder Basin Coal mine to get things started. Now, after 20 years of work, Parker can look at Wright and say it fits the vision she and her fellow residents had for it 20 years ago.

"The homes look tidy and well-kept. You can see people take pride in their homes," said Parker.

"Now there are a few trees," said Greg Parker. "It's very attractive now."

The Parkers were not surprised at the strength and generosity that Wright and its neighboring towns showed in the wake of last week's tornado. Those are the characteristics of strong community.

"What I liked best about our time here was the bonding, not of blood relatives, but of friends. We made family bonds out of friends," said Bea.

Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com.