Flavel Allen Wright

Flavel Allen Wright, 91, Lincoln, died quietly at his home Wednesday (9/30/04). Flavel was born May 15, 1913, in Scottsbluff, the youngest of six children of Judge Fred Allen Wright and Elizabeth Royer Wright. He attended Omaha public schools and the University of Nebraska, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He received an A.B. degree (1936) and an L.L.B with honors from the College of Law (1936), and was a member of the Order of the Coif. He married Marian Elizabeth Fleetwood on Oct. 28, 1936. Upon graduation, he joined the law firm of Hall, Cline and Williams, now Cline, Williams, Wright, Johnson, and Oldfather, where he practiced law until his retirement in 1983. In 1943, with two small children at home, Flavel volunteered for service in the U.S. Navy and served as a communications officer aboard the USS Bunker Hill. He was on board in 1945 when kamikaze attacks severely damaged the ship, killing 346 men.

"Flav" had a long and distinguished legal career. He was president of the Nebraska Bar Association (1959-60) and a founder and first president of the Nebraska Bar Foundation (1963-68). He was inducted into the American College of Trial Lawyers (1957) and served on the organization's board of regents (1972-76). He received an honorary doctor of law from the University of Nebraska and the Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1979.

The Nebraska Medical Association honored him for distinguished efforts in support of public health in Nebraska (1976). He received the Nebraska Bar Foundation's most prestigious Foundation Award for exemplary service (1994). A Flavel Allen Wright Chair has been established at the University of Nebraska College of Law. A fund at the Nebraska State Bar Foundation encourages education on the Constitution and Bill of Rights in Nebraska in his honor.

Survivors include his wife, Marian; children and their spouses, Lynn Wright Brown and Dr. James Brown, Wenatchee, Wash., Bill and Sally Wright, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Dr. Gregg Wright, Lincoln, and Scott Wright and Jean Stokan Wright, Washington, D.C.; 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grand-children, all of whom will miss a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He also leaves behind many caring and competent caregivers who have provided care over the last seven years, for whom he and his family were and are especially grateful.

Memorial service: 10:30 a.m. Oct. 23, First-Plymouth Congregational Church. Memorials should be directed to the University of Nebraska Foundation in support of the Flavel Allen Wright Chair at the College of Law.