David Ray Wright
COLUMBIA — Kay Wright said her husband, David, wouldn’t hurt a fly, a spider or a snake — not even if it was in their house and not even if she told him to.
When Kay Wright found a snake in their home one day, she called her husband for a rescue.
“I was going, ‘Kill it, kill it, kill it!’ and he said, ‘Oh, no. No.'”
He took the snake to a field near their home and let it go.
David Ray Wright of Columbia died Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011. He was 63.
Mr. Wright was born on Jan. 7, 1948, in Miami, Okla., to Jesse and Grace Wright.
He served two tours in Vietnam as an explosives expert in the Marines.
For his service as a corporal in the Marines, he was awarded a Bronze Star, and he also received a Purple Heart for a shrapnel wound.
“He was a very compassionate person after he came back from Vietnam,” Kay Wright said. “He saw a lot of bad things. He didn’t talk about it much.”
The two married on Aug. 28, 1993.
Mr. Wright loved to take photographs of everything. He took pictures of his children, his grandchildren, his motorcycle and tiger lilies. He also enjoyed planting flowers.
“Don’t they look good enough to eat?” he once said to his wife, referring to his garden.
“Yeah, but you can’t eat them, so why bother?” Kay Wright said.
Mr. Wright loved to ride his Victory motorcycle. He was a member of the Devil’s Icebox Victory Motorcycle Club, and he and Kay rode to Sturgis, S.D., for a Victory motorcycle rally three years ago.
The most important things to David were his home, his family and his friends.
“He didn’t let a lot of people in, but the people he let in he really loved,” Kay Wright.
Mr. Wright last worked as a quality manager for a JM Eagle plant in Columbia.
“He was a good worker, hard worker,” Kay Wright said.
Mr. Wright is survived by his wife, Kay Wright, of Columbia; two sons, Eric Wright of Dallas and Dreyman Wright of Columbia; three daughters, Erin Staiger and Emily Wright of Sturgeon, and Chelsea Thordarson of Columbia; two brothers, Jon Wright and his wife, Kaye, of San Antonio, and Ron White and his wife, Sharon, of Anderson; and four grandchildren, Gabriel, Alyssa, Jaden and Gavyn.
Mr. Wright's parents died earlier.
Services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, with visitation preceding from noon to 1 at Parker Funeral Service, 22 N. Tenth St. Burial will follow in the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery at Jacksonville.
Donations can be made to the family and will be given to the Missouri Cancer Associates’ chemotherapy room.
