John LeBaron Wright

1916 - 2015

John LeBaron (Jack) Wright

Born in Bismarck, North Dakota on June 18, 1916 to parents Ernest C. and Lois B. Wright, Jack was the second of their four children, preceded by Ruth and succeeded by Robert and LaVere. Jack attended the University of Illinois where he studied architecture, and after graduating in 1941 he joined the United States Engineering Department (USED) and ended up in, of all places, British Guiana in South America where he worked on the construction of airfields and barracks for the U.S. government. While in B.G. he met and then wooed Kathleen Milne Smith. Jack and Kay were married in November of 1943 in Georgetown and shortly afterward made their way back to the U.S. where Jack received a commission in the United States Marine Corps as a 2nd Lieutenant. He shipped out to the Pacific in 1944 - leaving his new wife who had grown up in the tropics to face her first Chicago winter - and spent the rest of the war working in the Marshall Islands as an engineer. Shortly after V-J Day he returned to Chicago where he and Kay began their family with the birth of their first child, daughter Donna Elizabeth in November of 1946. They moved to Seattle in 1947 and their second and third children, daughter Catherine Leigh and son Robert Hamilton, were born in 1948 and 1952 respectively. The family moved to Redmond in 1960 where Jack and Kay lived for the rest of their lives.

Jack joined the architecture firm of Jones and Bindon in 1947, then became junior partner as the firm became Bindon and Wright in 1954 and then senior partner in Wright Gildow Hartmann Teagarden and Associates in 1968. He was a Fellow of The American Institute of Architects and served both as President of the Seattle Chapter and Director of the Northwest Region of the AIA.

Jack was very active in civic affairs as member of the Executive Committee of Forward Thrust, Chairman of the Redmond Planning Commission, a member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce and President of Seattle Urban Renewal.

An avid golfer, Jack was one of the eight founding members of Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, where he was twice Club President. He and Kay took great delight in helping to landscape both the golf course and the grounds around the clubhouse. They planted thousands of rhododendrons and azaleas in their years at Sahalee.

Jack was predeceased by Kay, his beloved wife of nearly 70 years, in 2013 and by his darling daughter Donna Polacek who passed away in 1997. He is survived by his daughter Cathi Nelson (Larry) and his son Bob Wright (Katie); his four grandsons: Matt Polacek (Rochelle), Josh Polacek (Crystal), Adam Nelson (Joy) and Ryan Nelson (Diane), and nine great-grandchildren: Tyler, Tess, Wyatt and Josie; Jessie, J.J. and Jacob; and Haley and Chase. We loved him very much and we shall miss him terribly. He had a wonderful life. As he would say - "Pretty Good".

Donations can be made in Jack's name to The Emerald Heights Benevolence Fund, 10901 176th Circle NE, Redmond, WA 98052.