Gary Wright II

Hollis Garrett "Gary" Wright, II, M.D., passed away peacefully on February 5, 2026, after a rich life filled with family, friends, service, books, music, gardens, and ideas.

Gary grew up in Springfield, Missouri, after moving as a toddler from his birthplace in San Francisco, California. Gary's mother, Marion Marcus Wright, hailed from San Francisco and the family home, designed by their relative Julia Morgan, was on the most famous street in the world-the crooked part of Lombard Street. Gary's father, Hollis Garrett Wright, was a Missouri native with deep roots in the area as a product of the Wright, Garrett, and McCanse families.

Gary and his two sisters, Janet and Judy, lived in the Phelps Grove neighborhood, where they regularly attended First and Calvary Presbyterian Church with their parents. They were an active, studious, and musical family. Gary graduated from Parkview High School in Springfield, Missouri in 1961.

After high school, Gary attended Yale University, where he was on the swim team and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1965. He then stayed in New Haven to attend Yale Medical School, graduating in 1970. During those years, he had summer adventures in Wyoming working on a dinosaur dig, in Rhode Island providing health care at migrant worker camps, in West Virginia treating coal miners at a black lung clinic, and in the U.S. Virgin Islands advancing a public health project. After medical school, Gary took an eventful road trip with his friend Tom Singer on their way to San Francisco for Gary's residency in Pediatrics at Kaiser-Permanente.

In San Francisco, Gary met and married Irma Delson, and they moved to Neosho, Missouri, where Gary joined a medical practice. Their son, Andrew "Andy" McCanse Wright, was born in 1973 at then-St. John's hospital in Springfield. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Corvallis, Oregon, where Gary worked as a doctor at the Oregon State University (OSU) health center.

After his marriage to Irma ended in the late 1970s, Gary and Irma largely rotated parenting duties. Ultimately, after Irma moved to San Francisco, Gary was a single parent during the bulk of his son's high school years. Gary often hosted Andy's friends for dinner discussions about history, philosophy, politics, and society. He was a wonderful father.

In the 1980s, he also had a brief return to the Ozarks at a clinic in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where Jerry Stamps, the proprietor of "Stamps Apothecary," became a fixture in the family until his untimely death in the 1990s. After returning to Oregon, Gary became an emergency room doctor, working at Salem General Hospital in Salem, Oregon, and PeaceHealth Hospital in Eugene, Oregon.

During that period, Gary began a relationship with Barbara Hadley, whom he met as a colleague at OSU. They eventually married in 2000, bringing Barb's sons Karl and Mark Hadley into Gary's family. At that time, she took the name Barb Ruth-Wright. They had many domestic adventures and enjoyed their reading, writing, and gardening projects.

After his son was off to college, Gary decided to return to his original academic love: philosophy. In 2000, he earned a Ph.D in Philosophy from the University of Oregon, which began his path toward writing two books: Means, Ends, and Medical Care (Springer Publishers) and Ontic Ethics: Exploring the Influence of Caring on Being (Lexington Books).

Gary and Barb eventually moved to Springfield to help take care of Gary's elderly mother. In Springfield, Gary finished out his medical career working at a homeless clinic near Commercial Street. Gary took great delight in being a grandfather to Andy's son Garrett Robert Wright, as well as Mark's children Miles and Annabelle Hadley, and a great granddaughter, Veda! Over the last several years, Gary enjoyed spending time at coffee, at the gym, and on industrious projects with his longtime partner-in-crime, Grant James.

Gary is survived by his wife, Barb; his son, Andy (Caprice Roberts) and their son, Garrett; his stepsons, Karl and Mark and Mark's children, Miles and Annabelle, Annabelle's daughter, Veda; his sisters, Judy Burtner (Les Burtner) and Janet Wright (Lael Greenfield) and their wonderful families filled with nieces and nephews; and his cousins and their families in California, Oregon, Canada, and Switzerland. He is also survived by Shiloh, a cat that has brought great joy.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to either The Kitchen (donate HERE) (where Gary served as a doctor in the homeless clinic) or Mount Vernon Community Children's Theater (donate HERE) (where Gary enjoyed watching his grandson perform). A service celebrating his life will be held on Saturday, February 21, at 11:00 a.m. at Central Christian Church (1475 N Washington Avenue, Springfield, Missouri 65802), where he and Barb were long involved in the Sunday School programming.