Guy Wright

Guy Wright In November 1990 the San Francisco Bay Area lost an effective champion-for-the-people when daily columnist Guy Wright retired. This January 25th those who knew and loved him lost him again when he died at age 83 of pneumonia in San Rafael. Guy was the son of William Guy Wright of Bemis, TN, and of Kathryn Jones Wright of Carmi, IL, his native town. Guy's schooling and The Great Depression started the same year. Once he got to high school in St. Louis he helped sustain the struggling household by day jobs selling soda in the stands at Busch Stadium and setting pins in a pooling alley until midnight. The impact of that era overshadowed his entire life. He said of those dire days, "Everyone envied the mailman." Three and a half years out of Central High School, Pfc. Wright found himself in Europe with the Army Air Force where from his lowly, radio communications jeep he directed our planes to enemy targets. He fought in four major campaigns, including the Battle of the Bulge, and earned four bronze stars. The G.I. bill got Guy into college where he graduated with honors from the University of Missouri's prestigious College of Journalism. The budding journalist launched his career with the Scripps-Howards newspaper chain in Evansville, IN, moving on to their Pittsburgh Press while the steel town was in the midst of its clean air renaissance. He was invited by the editor of the S.F. News, a man he'd worked with before, to join his staff. Guy came, he saw, he was conquered. No one had told him how magnificent San Francisco is. He merged with the local flow as The News merged with the S.F. Call-Bulletin. Guy's final career move came in 1965 through joint production operating agreement between the de Young's Chronicle and Hearst's Examiner. In the 10-year span since his arrival in San Francisco he'd gone from general assignment reporter to radio/TV critic to daily columnist to OP-Ed columnist six days a week for The Examiner. Guy's image of himself from childhood on was as a writer. A highlight of his career was the opportunity to be a foreign correspondent. He shared with his readers the insights he gleaned from his assignments in Africa, Europe, Central America, The Caribbean and Vietnam. His readers, in turn, loved Guy's crisp analytical writing, pithy style, humor and his sassy answers in response to their letters. Although Guy's talent brought him recognition, including the Ernie Pyle Award, a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize, listings in Who's Who in the West and Who's Who in America, he was always humble, never seeking glory for himself. Instead Guy used his words as swords of justice for the voiceless. Two outstanding examples of his sword-wielding crusades are: From his chambers a judge bullied a ravished teenage victim. Guy re-circulated the judge's name and his behavior often enough to assure that judge's defeat when he ran for reelection. Next-A wage dispute between grave diggers and cemetery operators dragged on for months. Corpses piled up in cold storage. Their loved ones grew increasingly anguished. All manner of negotiations failed. After fair warning, Guy, with a hearse in the lead, took a bus caravan of bereaved families to Sacramento. On the capitol steps Guy implored Gov. Reagan to call out the National Guard to bury the dead. The strike ended that night. Whenever anyone asked what Guy did for a living he replied with satisfactions, "I'm a newspaperman." In the 1980s Guy fought off two types of cancer, accepting the aftermath without complaint. His positive disposition and exuberant smile prevailed. His readers sent kind, comforting words. Survivors include his wife of 37 years, Kevin-Marie McTigue Wright, (he and his first wife, Hazel Ruth (Leigh) Gross of Pennsylvania divorced.); his daughter Sally (Mrs. Tom Goldstein) and her children Owen Steggemann, and Rose and Lucy Goldstein; and his sons Gregory Drew Wright and John Timothy Johnson. Also surviving are his cousin Don Chastain of Vallejo, CA, and his aunt Minnie Denny of Carmi, IL. Guy once owned a small sailboat that gave him hours of pleasure and challenges on the bay. He wanted his ashes scattered at sea and that was done in a small, private memorial ceremony. If readers still have any of his columns tucked away that they would like to make copies of and donate to his family, they will be most appreciative. Please send them to The Guy Wright Family, 769 Center Blvd. #128, Fairfax, CA 94930.