Creighton Burns WRIGHT

Father, Husband, Volunteer, Patriot, Caregiver Creighton Wright, of Brandon Oaks Retirement Community, Roanoke, at the age of 90 years, died on May 20, 2013.
He was born in 1922 in Chazy, N.Y. on Lake Champlain, the son of a school teacher, to John and Clara Wright. Early in life he lived in Yonkers, N.Y., before attending Northeastern University in Boston and obtaining a degree in Engineering. Upon graduation, he immediately enlisted in the United States Navy Officers Training Program. He served from 1943 to 1946 as a Lieutenant aboard an LST in the Pacific including the invasions of Saipan, Okinawa, and Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Returning to Yonkers following World War II, he joined the U.S. Rubber Company (Uniroyal) as an engineer, completing 39 years of loyal service.
In 1948, he married Edith Fraser with whom they had two children, Nancy and Bill, moving to Darien, Connecticut in 1958 to raise the family. Sadly, Edith, his first love of his life, was taken from him early. Creighton, the forever caregiver, continued to raise his two children as a single parent. He met Dee Rukan (his second love), of Darien, where they married in 1969, joining together two families and four children from lost spouses. He was an active member of the Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien for 40 years.
Creighton and Dee moved to Roanoke in 1998. They established themselves within the Brandon Oaks Community with Creighton taking on many volunteer roles-Employee Fund, Rose Garden Club and was especially fond of reading mail to those in the nursing home. He was also a member of the Raleigh Court Presbyterian Church.
He was forever a caregiver to so many throughout his entire life, always embracing everyone he met with his friendliness, humor, and perennial optimism.
"Pop" passed with his family at his side and will be so very missed. Truly an inspiration to us all where love of family was most important.
He is survived by his wife of 44 years, Dee Rukan Wright and her two children, Nancy Rukan, of Boulder, Colo. and Tom and his wife, Rue Rukan and their son, George, of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Creighton's daughter, Nancy Paparo and husband, Vince, of Daleville and their two children, Michael and friend, Mellisa, of Richmond, and Jason and wife, Leanne and great-grandchild, Penelope, of Alexandria; Creighton's son, Bill Wright and wife, Sara, of Houston, Texas and their two children, Samantha and friend, Patrick, of Portsmouth, N.H. and Tommy and wife, Sarah, of Seattle, Wash; and nephew, Tod Donovan and his wife, Paula, of Brunswick, Ga.
A memorial service in celebration of Creighton's life will take place at a later date at Brandon Oaks Retirement Community. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made in his name to the charity of the donor's choice.