William L. “Bill” Wright, Sr.
William L. “Bill” Wright, Sr., of West Ellicott died on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, three days shy of his 97th birthday. He was born on June 8, 1927, the youngest of three sons of Clive L. Wright, Sr. and Ruth Ackroyd Wright.
Bill was a 1945 graduate of Jamestown High School and a 1949 graduate of Allegheny College, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity. He attended Yale University for a semester prior to enlisting in the US Navy. He proudly served his country as a supply officer aboard the USS Richard B. Anderson during the last months of World War II, and aboard the USS Repose, a Navy hospital ship, during the Korean War. He thereafter attended Cornell Law School from which he graduated in 1954.
Following graduation, Bill returned to Jamestown to practice law with his father and his older brothers, Robert (“Bob”) and Clive Jr. (“Bud”) in the firm of Wright & Wright, and later also with Mark Hampton with the firm of Wright, Wright and Hampton, from which he retired in 1994. During his forty years of practice, he was widely respected for his expertise in trust and estate law .
Bill enjoyed the outdoors in all seasons. He was active for many years in several tennis leagues, and in later years, a senior golf league. He enjoyed a lifetime of boating on Chautauqua Lake, including many years aboard his beloved 1931 Richardson cruiser, “Echo,” restoring his lakefront cottage in Ashville Bay, which he affectionately referred to as “Treetops,” and tinkering around his yard and garage. The grandson of a lumberjack he loved to cut, split and burn firewood. He was a skilled welder and mechanic and restored several vintage automobiles in his garage.
Bill was a quiet pillar of the community and proudly served many local organizations, including as a director of the Hultquist Foundation, the YMCA and the Jamestown Bar Association. He was an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Jamestown and a member of the Lakewood Rod & Gun Club and Mount Moriah Lodge 145 F. & A.M. He was also the longest tenured member of The Sportsmen’s Club of Lake Chautauqua, for which he proudly chronicled the Club’s first 90 years of history.
Bill loved to travel and did so regularly through- out his life. Together with his wife, he enjoyed many months abroad in Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. He also explored every state in this country, many of them in the course of several extended car trips with his children and grandchildren. He endeavored to emulate his father’s legacy of maintaining contacts with the people he met on his journeys. At home, he maintained a large network of friends with whom he gathered regularly for dinner parties, including his beloved “pot luck” group. Bill enjoyed both spirited social discourse as well as the solitude of gathering sticks for camp fires at his cottage. He was the consummate gentleman, always extending a hand and offering a kind word to anyone who passed by him. He rarely raised his voice and chose his words carefully. He truly cherished his time with his family and friends.
Surviving are his wife of 67 years, Constance (“Connie”) Larson Wright, whom he married on April 20, 1957, his sister-in-law, Carol Sorg of Busti, three children, Susan Carlson (Greg) of Avon, New York, William L. (“Bill”) Wright Jr. of West Ellicott and Stephen J. Wright (Debbie) of Lakewood, nine grandchildren, Geoffrey Carlson (Laura), Brenton Carlson, Jeffrey Wright (Kate), Gregory Wright (Elyssa), Elizabeth Wright, Kendall Wright, Megan Wright, Zach Swan (Cassie) and Jake Swan, five great-grandchildren, Hazel, Jack and Harry Wright, Ellen Carlson and Madison Swan, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, his brother-in-law, James Sorg, and his sisters-in-law, Margaret (“Peggy”) and Anne Wright.
The family wishes to extend its heartful gratitude to Rose Bailey, Rebecca Senear and Charlotte Garvey for their many hours of patient and thoughtful care. Arrangements are being handled by the Lind Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to the Lawson Boating Heritage Center on Chautauqua Lake, the Chautauqua Lake & Watershed Management Alliance or the First Presbyterian Church. Visitation will not be observed. A memorial service will be announced by the family at a later date.
You may leave words of condolence at www.lind funeralhome.com.
