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WILLIAM A. WRIGHT Jr.

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"I'm so proud of you Grandfather. Your accomplishments were..."
- Courtney Panzer

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William A. Wright Jr. William A. Wright Jr., 89, died Friday, April 13, 2012, at his home in Barrington, Ill. A visitation will be held Saturday, April 21, at the Siegert - Casper Colonial Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 390 N. Grandview Ave., Dubuque, Iowa, from 9:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. at the funeral home with the Rev. Thomas Young officiating. Committal and internment will take place at Linwood Cemetery, where military rites will be accorded by the American Legion Post 6 of Dubuque. Mr. Wright and his wife, Geneva (deceased, July 2, 2010), formerly lived in Dubuque, Iowa, for most of their adult lives. Born in Frederick, Md., Sept. 24, 1922, to William A. and Loretta Foland Wright, he graduated from Hamilton (Ohio) High School, and began his college education at Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. in 1941. Bill voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps in December 1943. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant, completed flight training, and began his first tour of combat duty in April, 1944, flying B-17 Flying Fortress long range bombers for the U.S. Army Air Corps 8th Air Force, 603rd Squadron, 398th Bomb Group from Plymouth, England. Two of his early missions in 1944, bombing German aircraft factories, which included 200 and 290 B17's, respectively, experienced attrition rates of more than 30%. Bill frequently commented that when he looked back and reflected on his World War II service, "The odds were that we would not return home after four - five missions." Regardless of the odds, Bill and some of his flight crew members elected to remain after their required 25 missions were completed, took on replacement crew members, and flew seven more missions for a total of 32. Bill was promoted to first lieutenant in 1944 after flying 20 bombing missions. While serving, Bill was awarded: The Distinguished Flying Cross; The USAAC Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters; and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 Bronze Stars. Bill then returned to the U.S., and taught "basic" combat flying at the Army Air Force Pilot School at Guntar Field, Ala. Bill joined the Air Force Reserve upon discharge from active duty on May 26, 1945. Bill was promoted to captain while in the Air Force Reserve, serving until 1958. After discharge from active duty, Bill began his business career in Hamilton, Ohio, working nights, and attending the University of Cincinnati during the day, studying engineering. In 1950, seeking a new opportunity, Bill, his wife Geneva and their two small children, Kaye (then 6) and Andrew (then 4) moved to Dubuque, Iowa, with Bill taking a position at Dubuque Stamping & Manufacturing. Still not finished with his college education, Bill resigned from Dubuque Stamping after two years, and enrolled at the University of Dubuque as a full time student for 18 months. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in 1954, 13 years after first enrolling at Bob Jones. At the same time, after meeting Vern Kascel and Bud Essman (Dubuque, both deceased), he worked evenings and weekends designing a wooden toy for the Eska Company of Dubuque. Later in the 1950s, he became equal partners with Vern Kascel (Dubuque) and Luke Sapan (Great Neck, L.I., N.Y.) in the Eska Company. Bill redesigned the flow of manufacturing work at Eska, designed the first rotary lawn mower plastic engine housing, designed and patented a mechanism that allowed The Eska Co. to introduce the first rotary lawn mower that could be started without the blade turning, and designed the first economical electric starter for snow blowers. An avid fisherman, Bill decided to take a stab at manufacturing an economical small outboard motor targeted at fishermen. He used an air cooled small lawn mower engine, and mounted it on an old Evinrude lower unit. After several months of engineering and testing, in the early 1960s, Bill and his partners at Eska decided to invest in the tooling to make 3.5 hp and 5 hp air cooled small outboard motors for fishermen. The May Company in St Louis, Mo, was one of the first large chain stores to give it a try. A full page ad in the St. Louis Post Dispatch, advertising a 5 hp Eska Outboard motor for $99, sold over 1,000 units in a two week period! The Eska small outboard motors became the world's largest selling outboard motors under 10 hp. Sears Roebuck & Co. became the largest customer for Eska. In the early 1970s, creating the social event of the decade for Dubuque, Ted Williams came to honor Eska, Bill and his partners with The Sears Award of Excellence in manufacturing. Bill and his partners sold The Eska Company in 1970, and Bill began an active retirement. Always an early riser, full of energy, in retirement, Bill attended the Van Der Meer Tennis Academy earning a professional instructors certificate, which he followed up by adding a professional ski instructor certificate. Bill taught tennis to many Dubuquers, and downhill skiing at Sun Down in Dubuque for more than 5 years. Bill was a Mason, a member of the 990 Shooting Society, the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Dubuque Golf and Country Club and Westminster Presbyterian Church. He is survived by his daughter, Kaye W. Lange of Long Grove, Ill.; his son, W. Andrew Wright III (Elaine) of Barrington Hills, Ill.; his three grandchildren, Jeffrey R. Lange (Catherine) of Deer Park, Ill. , Courtney Panzer (Brian) of St. Charles, Ill., and James A. Wright (Bethany) of Barrington Hills, Ill.; and his six great-grandchildren Madeline, Elise, Ashley and Ryker Panzer, Oscar and Ingrid Wright, and William and Henry Lange. He is also survived by his sister, Dorothy Wright Stull (Henry) of Frederick, Md.; his nephews, Mike (Jeanne) and Keith Woodyard of Dubuque; his niece, Christina Burrichter of Katy, Texas; his sister-in-law, Wanda Harding of Pittsburgh, Pa.; his nephew, Steven Harding of Mansfield Ohio; and his aunt, Hazel Foland of Hamilton, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Geneva; his father, William A. Wright of Hamilton, Ohio; his mother, Loretta F. Wright of Frederick, Md.; his uncle, John Foland of Hamilton, Ohio; and his nephew, Scott Harding of Mansfield, Ohio. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.egelhofsiegertcasper.com Memorial contributions may be made to Westminster Presbyterian Church, the USO or the US Ski Team.

Published in Chicago Suburban Daily Herald on April 19, 2012

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