James Madison "Jim" Wright Jr.

1935 - 2025

James Madison "Jim" Wright, Jr. Greenville - James "Jim" Madison Wright, Jr., 90, passed into the loving arms of Jesus on Friday, November 14, 2025.

The funeral service will be conducted on Sunday at 2 pm in the Smith Funeral Chapel. Burial will follow in Pinewood Memorial Park. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.

Jim, son of the late James and Ruth Wright, was born in Bartlesville, OK, the oldest boy of six children. Due to the economic impact of the Dust Bowl, he and his family moved to Gallup, New Mexico where his father went to work with the Santa Fe Railroad. Jim served his country honorably in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. Following his service, he met the love of his life Elizabeth Ann Wilson. They were married on April 1, 1960, and were blessed with four beautiful children. Jim worked as a surveyor for the Santa Fe Railroad before joining the US Forest Service in Williams, Arizona. He also owned Jim's Texaco in Williams before relocating in the mid-1970s to Silver City, NM to work on the Gila National Forest as an engineering technician, designing mountain roads and trails until his retirement in 1998. Jim and Ann moved to Greenville in 2020 to be near family.

Jim enjoyed good food, and he loved to cook, oftentimes using fruits and vegetables that he grew in his amazing garden. He was an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hunting, fishing, gardening and adventuring. He loved telling stories, listening to real country music and was a good guitar picker in his own right. Jim was also quite the handyman and jack of all trades, who could fix or build just about anything, and passed many of these life skills on to his children.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his son, Keith James Wright; brothers, Jerry and Mike Wright; and sisters, Nancy Jones and Sharon Wilson.

He is survived by his wife, Ann Wright; children, Vicky McLean (Bret) of Centerville, GA, Pam O'Neal (Scott) of Clearwater, FL, and Derek Wright (Margi) of Greenville, NC; grandchildren, Katrina (Bryan) Brannen, Heather (Wesley) Ryals, Wendy (Daniel) Wiggins, James (Jordan) Humphrey, Paige Horton, Lora Humphrey, Will Wright, and Nathan Wright; numerous great-grandchildren, and one sister, Jeanne Gasparich (Don).

Arrangements by Smith Funeral Service & Crematory. Online condolences may be expressed at www.smithfcs.com.