Buddy Joe Wright

1937 - 2002

Buddy Joe Wright, 64, a retired U.S. Army colonel, died Tuesday, July 16, 2002, in Fort Worth.

Mass of Christian Burial: 10 a.m. Friday at St. Andrew Catholic Church, the Rev. Luke Robertson, celebrant. Graveside service: noon in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery with full military honors. Vigil: 7 p.m. Thursday in The Drawing Room of Thompson's Harveson & Cole Funeral Home.

Memorials: Should friends desire, memorials may be made to The Military Order of World Wars, Box 27107, NAS-Fort Worth JRB, Texas 76127-0107.

Retired Army Col. Buddy Joe Wright was born Dec. 14, 1937, in Gainesville and had been a Fort Worth resident since 1963. He was a graduate of Durant High School in Durant, Okla., Southeastern Oklahoma State University and the U.S. Army War College.

He was an Army intelligence officer at Fort Hood 2nd Armored Division, served in the 90th Army Reserve Command and retired as commander of the 488th Military Intelligence Detachment Strategic. In his civilian life, he was a security manager at Lockheed-Martin.

He had been a member of St. Andrew Catholic Church since 1964. He served as the vice commander of the Military Order of World Wars, a national officer for the Reserve Officers Association and the Retired Officers Association and as a former officer of the National Classification Management Society.

Survivors: Wife of 44 years, Dena Wright; children, Elizabeth Wright Bates and her husband, Mark, Leah Wright and her husband, Army Maj. Ramiro Alonso, Army Maj. Amy Connelly and her husband, Air Force Lt. Col. Tom Connelly; and grandchildren, Abigail and Joseph Alonso and Shannon and Julia Bates.