William E. Wright Jr.

William E. Wright, Jr., of Preston, died at his home on Sunday evening, April 17, 2005 after a two-year struggle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was 73. Born in Easton, November 16, 1931, he was the son of the late William E., Sr. and Lillian Corkran Wright. After graduating from Preston High School in 1949, he worked briefly for the E. I. duPont de Nemours Company in Seaford, DE before joining the U. S. Air Force in March of 1951. Following his completion of his four-year enlistment which included a tour of duty in Korea, he was released from active duty with the rank of Staff Sergeant on March 25, 1955. He returned to work for the duPont Company until retiring in 1985. For most of those years, he was a pipe fitter until the last four years when he was the Council Representative. During this time, he had earned his Commercial Pilot’s License and did some flying as a crop duster. After his retirement, he was associated with Preston Ford for a number of years. A resident of Preston for the majority of his life, he was a member of the Bethesda United Methodist Church in Preston where he had served as a Trustee, a member of the VFW in Hurlock and a former member of the Preston Volunteer Fire Company. He was honored in 2004 by the Waterfowl Festival, Inc in Easton for 30 years of volunteer service, and for 29 of those years he contributed his own carvings to the gift shop. A true Eastern Shore sportsman, he loved to fish, crab and hunt and had worked as a hunting guide. He loved to travel and had spent several weeks a year in Aruba. Mr. Wright is survived by his wife, the former Jean McAllister whom he married December 27, 1952; a daughter, Diane W. Dayton and her husband, Michael, of Hurlock; two sons, W. Daniel Wright and his wife, Linda, of Newark, DE and David E. Wright and his wife, Marti, of Preston; a brother, Robert B. Wright of Preston and six grandchildren. Another brother, James T. Wright, died in 1981. Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 22nd, at 1:30 P.M. at the Fellows, Helfenbein and Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Easton. Burial, with military honors, will be at the Maryland Eastern Shore Veterans Cemetery, at Beulah. Friends may call at the funeral home on Thursday, April 21st, from 6 – 8 P.M. Memorial donations may be made to the Talbot Hospice Foundation, 586 Cynwood Drive, Easton, MD 21601 or to the ALS Association, 615 S. Frederick Avenue, Suite 308, Gaithersburg, MD 20877.