Clymer Wright
Encyclopedia
Clymer Lewis Wright. Jr. (July 24, 1932 January 24, 2011), was a Texas
conservative political activist and a crusading journalist
later credited with bringing term limits to Houston
municipal government and encouraging Ronald W. Reagan to seek the American presidency
.
in the Korean War
, Wright was active in the Baptist Church and in the alumni association of his alma mater
, the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg
, Mississippi
.
During the middle 1950s, as owner and editor of the Fort Bend Reporter in Rosenberg
, Texas, Wright survived death threats targeting himself as well as his family, but he joined with state authorities and the Texas Rangers to rid Galveston
and Fort Bend County
, outside Houston, of organized crime
, including brothel
s and illegal gambling
casino
s. Wright sold the Fort Bend Reporter as early as 1957. After further changes of ownership, on August 27, 2005, it assumed the name, the Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster.
Wright later published a second conservative newspaper, the Houston Tribune.
did not enter that presidential race until he reached the national convention held in Miami Beach
, Florida
. By that time, Richard Nixon
had sewn up sufficient support to become the party's nominee for the second nonconsecutive time.
Wright was part of the 100-member Reagan delegation to the 1976 Republican National Convention
in Kansas City
, Missouri
. When delegates nominated Gerald R. Ford, Jr., Wright said: "There is no way I am going to support Jimmy Carter
. But Ford is going to be a drag on our local candidates. Naturally, it's going to take so much time to work for them, we're not going to have much time to work for Ford."Barbara Staff
, the Texas Reagan co-chairman from Dallas
, said "You may just see a big apathetic heartbreak take over. I would say at this point most people here are not going to work for Ford."
In 1980, Wright chaired the Texas finance committee for the successful Reagan presidential campaign even though two other Houston-based candidates were also in the running, George H. W. Bush
, the eventual vice president
, and John B. Connally, Jr., the governor of Texas
from 1963–1969, who had switched to the Republican Party
in 1973 after the death of his mentor, former President Lyndon B. Johnson
.
In 1982, Wright joined Howard Phillips, a former Nixon administration official who founded the Conservative Caucus, in an unsuccessful effort to convince Reagan to dismiss Houston attorney James A. Baker, III, from the position of presidential chief of staff. Wright claimed that Baker, a former Democrat and a political intimate of Bush, was undercutting conservative initiatives in the administration. Not only did Reagan reject the Wright-Phillips request, but in 1985, he named Baker as United States Secretary of the Treasury
, at Baker's request in a job-swap with then Secretary Donald T. Regan, a former Merrill Lynch
officer who became chief of staff. Reagan also rebuked Wright for waging a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker.
On February 6, 2011, thirteen days after Wright's death, Jim Baker was invited by Nancy Davis Reagan to deliver one of the principal addresses from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley
, California, to commemorate the former President's 100th birthday.
that established term limits of three two-year terms in the nation's fourth largest city. San Antonio
also enacted term limits about this time. Wright's hard-hitting style thrilled his backers but outraged his leftist political opponents. When Houston officeholders knocked on doors to oppose the term limits initiative in 1991, Wright urged backers of term limits to "Sick your dogs on 'em." The success of the term limits measure coincided with the election of Democrat Bob Lanier
, who unseated Mayor Kathy Whitmire, a ten-year incumbent, in the officially nonpartisan
election. The 1991 initiative passed with 56.9 percent of the vote. In 1994, Wright spearheaded a second voter drive that removed a loophole that Houston officials created in the law which had enabled them to petition for a ballot position even after three terms.
In 2000, he served as the national finance chairman for presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, the former Republican who ran as the Reform Party
's nominee. In 2008, Wright supported U.S. Representative Ron Paul
of Texas, an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. When the GOP nominated U.S. Senator John S. McCain of Arizona
, Wright contributed to the Constitution Party
nominee Chuck Baldwin
, a Baptist pastor in Pensacola
, Florida
, who has since relocated to Montana
.
Though Wright did not support McCain for President with any contributions, he was finance chairman in 2007–2008 for the Republican congressional candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
, who failed in her second bid for the position, having lost in 2006 to the Democrat Nick Lampson
. Then Gibbs lost the 2008 Republican primary
to Pete Olson
as the representative from Texas's 22nd congressional district
, a position once held by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
of Fort Bend County. Wright declared that Gibbs, a physician, was "exactly the type of principled, conservative leader we need in TX-22, and I'm proud to give her my support."
Wright's greatest political success lay with the Houston term limits. While numerous politicians have floated trial balloon
s to rescind the term limits, they nevertheless remain in place. Upon Wright's death, Barry Klein, another Houston conservative activist, said in an email: "Incumbents in City Hall are probably breathing easier."
Wright himself ran for office only once, in the 1993 special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Democrat
, Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.
, also of Houston, resigned to join the Bill Clinton
administration as the treasury secretary. Wright finished near the bottom of the multi-candidate field with only 5,111 votes statewide, less than one quarter of 1 percent of the vote. The seat was ultimately won by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison
, who unseated the appointed incumbent Robert Krueger in a runoff election.
For the eighteen years prior to his death, Wright had been an executive with Aflac
Insurance, after his early career in journalism and, subsequently, in real estate
.
in Atlanta
, Georgia
, and worked for both the Whitehall Hotel and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before joining Clymer Wright at Aflac Insurance. Her daughter from a previous marriage is Lisa Kay Baker of Paso Robles
, California
. Mary Wright died of heart failure in a Houston hospital at the age of sixty-seven. Prior to their deaths, the Wrights had been helping to rear a grandniece, Haley Nicole Millsap. Mary Wright was descended on her mother's side from John M. Bozeman, a mountain man
who discovered and named the Bozeman Trail
. Bozeman
, Montana, is also named for him.
Wright was found dead, apparently of natural causes, by a housekeeper. He was sitting in a chair, wearing pajamas, and the morning newspaper was nearby. Daughter Cindy Gabriel-Flynn said that her father had not been ill but was preparing for back surgery and had been in a state of grief since the death of his wife, who prior to her own passing had spent years taking care of her elderly mother.
In addition to daughter Cindy and her husband, George Flynn, Wright had two other children, Clymer Wright, III (born 1961), and wife, Toni, of Scottsdale
, Arizona; and Linda Wright Tomasetti and husband, Barry, who is school superintendent in Kennett Square
in Chester County
in southeastern Pennsylvania
. Wright was survived by a sister, Suzanne W. Gillies of Houston; a brother, Michal Wright of North Carolina
; five grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
A memorial service was held on January 30, 2011, at Christchurch Baptist Fellowship at 12501 Champion Forest Drive in Houston.
One of Wright's admirers, Gary M. Polland
, former Harris County GOP chairman, said that the activist "had an infectious personality, strong laugh, and his enthusiasm and zest for ideas and issues would leave you passionate one way or another."
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
conservative political activist and a crusading journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
later credited with bringing term limits to Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
municipal government and encouraging Ronald W. Reagan to seek the American presidency
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
Crusading journalist
A veteran of the United States ArmyUnited States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
in the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
, Wright was active in the Baptist Church and in the alumni association of his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Hattiesburg is a city in Forrest County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 44,779 at the 2000 census . It is the county seat of Forrest County...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
.
During the middle 1950s, as owner and editor of the Fort Bend Reporter in Rosenberg
Rosenberg, Texas
Rosenberg is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Fort Bend County and is part of the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 31,676 at the 2010 census...
, Texas, Wright survived death threats targeting himself as well as his family, but he joined with state authorities and the Texas Rangers to rid Galveston
Galveston County, Texas
Galveston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the population was 291,309. Its county seat is Galveston. League City is the largest city in Galveston County in terms of population; between...
and Fort Bend County
Fort Bend County, Texas
Fort Bend County is a county located along the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. In 2000 its population was 354,452, while the 2010 U.S...
, outside Houston, of organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, including brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
s and illegal gambling
Gambling
Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods...
casino
Casino
In modern English, a casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships or other tourist attractions...
s. Wright sold the Fort Bend Reporter as early as 1957. After further changes of ownership, on August 27, 2005, it assumed the name, the Fort Bend Herald and Texas Coaster.
Wright later published a second conservative newspaper, the Houston Tribune.
Reagan Republican
Like Reagan, Wright was known for his unique personality of optimism, laughter, and zest for living. In 1968, he was a leader of "Texans for Reagan," but the California governorGovernor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
did not enter that presidential race until he reached the national convention held in Miami Beach
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. By that time, Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
had sewn up sufficient support to become the party's nominee for the second nonconsecutive time.
Wright was part of the 100-member Reagan delegation to the 1976 Republican National Convention
1976 Republican National Convention
The 1976 National Convention of the Republican Party of the United States met at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, from August 16 to August 19, 1976. The convention nominated incumbent Gerald Ford for President, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former California...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. When delegates nominated Gerald R. Ford, Jr., Wright said: "There is no way I am going to support Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. But Ford is going to be a drag on our local candidates. Naturally, it's going to take so much time to work for them, we're not going to have much time to work for Ford."Barbara Staff
Barbara Staff
Barbara Ruth Wright Staff is a retired Republican political activist from Plano, Texas. She was co-chairman of her state's 1976 Ronald Reagan presidential primary campaign.-Background:...
, the Texas Reagan co-chairman from Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, said "You may just see a big apathetic heartbreak take over. I would say at this point most people here are not going to work for Ford."
In 1980, Wright chaired the Texas finance committee for the successful Reagan presidential campaign even though two other Houston-based candidates were also in the running, George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, the eventual vice president
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
, and John B. Connally, Jr., the governor of Texas
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
from 1963–1969, who had switched to the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
in 1973 after the death of his mentor, former President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
.
In 1982, Wright joined Howard Phillips, a former Nixon administration official who founded the Conservative Caucus, in an unsuccessful effort to convince Reagan to dismiss Houston attorney James A. Baker, III, from the position of presidential chief of staff. Wright claimed that Baker, a former Democrat and a political intimate of Bush, was undercutting conservative initiatives in the administration. Not only did Reagan reject the Wright-Phillips request, but in 1985, he named Baker as United States Secretary of the Treasury
United States Secretary of the Treasury
The Secretary of the Treasury of the United States is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, which is concerned with financial and monetary matters, and, until 2003, also with some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United...
, at Baker's request in a job-swap with then Secretary Donald T. Regan, a former Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...
officer who became chief of staff. Reagan also rebuked Wright for waging a "campaign of sabotage" against Baker.
On February 6, 2011, thirteen days after Wright's death, Jim Baker was invited by Nancy Davis Reagan to deliver one of the principal addresses from the Reagan Library in Simi Valley
Simi Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Simi Valley had a population of 124,237. The population density was 2,940.8 people per square mile...
, California, to commemorate the former President's 100th birthday.
In search of term limits
In the early 1990s, Wright formed the interest group, "Citizens for Term Limitations," which worked successfully in passing the initiativeInitiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
that established term limits of three two-year terms in the nation's fourth largest city. San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
also enacted term limits about this time. Wright's hard-hitting style thrilled his backers but outraged his leftist political opponents. When Houston officeholders knocked on doors to oppose the term limits initiative in 1991, Wright urged backers of term limits to "Sick your dogs on 'em." The success of the term limits measure coincided with the election of Democrat Bob Lanier
Bob Lanier (politician)
Bob Lanier is a businessman in the real estate industry who served as mayor of the city of Houston, Texas from 1992 to 1998...
, who unseated Mayor Kathy Whitmire, a ten-year incumbent, in the officially nonpartisan
Nonpartisan
In political science, nonpartisan denotes an election, event, organization or person in which there is no formally declared association with a political party affiliation....
election. The 1991 initiative passed with 56.9 percent of the vote. In 1994, Wright spearheaded a second voter drive that removed a loophole that Houston officials created in the law which had enabled them to petition for a ballot position even after three terms.
Later years
In his later years, Wright fought to conserve public spaces that had been within the Inwood Forest Golf Country Club near his home. He remained involved in public-interest issues and conservative candidates until his death.In 2000, he served as the national finance chairman for presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan, the former Republican who ran as the Reform Party
Reform Party of the United States of America
The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
's nominee. In 2008, Wright supported U.S. Representative Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
of Texas, an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. When the GOP nominated U.S. Senator John S. McCain of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, Wright contributed to the Constitution Party
Constitution Party (United States)
The Constitution Party is a paleoconservative political party in the United States. It was founded as the U.S. Taxpayers' Party by Howard Philips in 1991. Phillips was the party's candidate in the 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential elections...
nominee Chuck Baldwin
Chuck Baldwin
Charles Obadiah "Chuck" Baldwin is an American politician and founder-pastor of Crossroad Baptist Church in Pensacola, Florida. He was the presidential nominee of the Constitution Party for the 2008 U.S. presidential election and had previously been its nominee for U.S. vice president in 2004...
, a Baptist pastor in Pensacola
Pensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, who has since relocated to Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
.
Though Wright did not support McCain for President with any contributions, he was finance chairman in 2007–2008 for the Republican congressional candidate Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is a physician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives representing from November 13, 2006, until January 3, 2007. She has also served as a City Councilwoman in Houston, Texas for three terms...
, who failed in her second bid for the position, having lost in 2006 to the Democrat Nick Lampson
Nick Lampson
Nicholas Valentino 'Nick' Lampson is an American politician from the state of Texas and was a Congressman representing the 22nd Congressional District of Texas. He was defeated by Pete Olson on November 4, 2008 in his re-election bid....
. Then Gibbs lost the 2008 Republican primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
to Pete Olson
Pete Olson
Peter Graham "Pete" Olson is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes much of southeastern Houston, as well as most of the city's southern suburbs such as Pearland, Sugar Land, and Pasadena.-Early life, education, and military...
as the representative from Texas's 22nd congressional district
Texas's 22nd congressional district
Texas District 22 of the United States House of Representatives is the Congressional district that covers a south-central portion of the metropolitan area. It includes the cities of Rosenberg and La Marque as well as portions of Missouri City and Pearland, in Fort Bend, Harris, Galveston, and...
, a position once held by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
of Fort Bend County. Wright declared that Gibbs, a physician, was "exactly the type of principled, conservative leader we need in TX-22, and I'm proud to give her my support."
Wright's greatest political success lay with the Houston term limits. While numerous politicians have floated trial balloon
Trial balloon
A trial balloon is information sent out to the media in order to observe the reaction of an audience. It can be used by companies sending out press releases to judge reaction by customers, or it can be used by politicians who deliberately leak information on a policy change under consideration...
s to rescind the term limits, they nevertheless remain in place. Upon Wright's death, Barry Klein, another Houston conservative activist, said in an email: "Incumbents in City Hall are probably breathing easier."
Wright himself ran for office only once, in the 1993 special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated when Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.
Lloyd Bentsen
Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr. was a four-term United States senator from Texas and the Democratic Party nominee for Vice President in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket. He also served in the House of Representatives from 1949 to 1955. In his later political life, he was Chairman of the Senate...
, also of Houston, resigned to join the Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
administration as the treasury secretary. Wright finished near the bottom of the multi-candidate field with only 5,111 votes statewide, less than one quarter of 1 percent of the vote. The seat was ultimately won by Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Kathryn Ann Bailey Hutchison, known as Kay Bailey Hutchison , is the senior United States Senator from Texas.She is a member of the Republican Party. In 2001, she was named one of the thirty most powerful women in America by Ladies Home Journal. The first woman to represent Texas in the U.S....
, who unseated the appointed incumbent Robert Krueger in a runoff election.
For the eighteen years prior to his death, Wright had been an executive with Aflac
Aflac
Aflac Incorporated is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States, founded in 1955 and based in Columbus, Georgia. In the United States, Aflac underwrites a wide range of insurance policies, but is perhaps more known for its payroll deduction insurance coverage, which pays...
Insurance, after his early career in journalism and, subsequently, in real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
.
Family and death
While studying journalism in college, he met his future first wife, the former Sandra Jean Lee, the mother of his three children during their 34-year marriage, which ended with her death in 1988. In 1990, Wright married the former Mary Katherine Sheftall (January 5, 1943– November 11, 2010), a Houston native and the daughter of the late Dell M. Sheftall, Sr. (died 1963), and the former Alice Frances Elliott (1903–2008). Mary Wright attended Emory UniversityEmory University
Emory University is a private research university in metropolitan Atlanta, located in the Druid Hills section of unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, United States. The university was founded as Emory College in 1836 in Oxford, Georgia by a small group of Methodists and was named in honor of...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, and worked for both the Whitehall Hotel and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston before joining Clymer Wright at Aflac Insurance. Her daughter from a previous marriage is Lisa Kay Baker of Paso Robles
Paso Robles, California
Paso Robles is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Paso Robles is the fastest growing city in San Luis Obispo County: Its population at the 2000 census was 24,297; in 2010 it recorded some 29,793 residentsLocated on the Salinas River north of San Luis Obispo, California,...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Mary Wright died of heart failure in a Houston hospital at the age of sixty-seven. Prior to their deaths, the Wrights had been helping to rear a grandniece, Haley Nicole Millsap. Mary Wright was descended on her mother's side from John M. Bozeman, a mountain man
Mountain man
Mountain men were trappers and explorers who roamed the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through the 1880s where they were instrumental in opening up the various Emigrant Trails allowing Americans in the east to settle the new territories of the far west by organized wagon trains...
who discovered and named the Bozeman Trail
Bozeman Trail
The Bozeman Trail was an overland route connecting the gold rush territory of Montana to the Oregon Trail. Its most important period was from 1863-1868. The flow of pioneers and settlers through territory of American Indians provoked their resentment and caused attacks. The U.S. Army undertook...
. Bozeman
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman is a city in and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States, in the southwestern part of the state. The 2010 census put Bozeman's population at 37,280 making it the fourth largest city in the state. It is the principal city of the Bozeman micropolitan area, which consists...
, Montana, is also named for him.
Wright was found dead, apparently of natural causes, by a housekeeper. He was sitting in a chair, wearing pajamas, and the morning newspaper was nearby. Daughter Cindy Gabriel-Flynn said that her father had not been ill but was preparing for back surgery and had been in a state of grief since the death of his wife, who prior to her own passing had spent years taking care of her elderly mother.
In addition to daughter Cindy and her husband, George Flynn, Wright had two other children, Clymer Wright, III (born 1961), and wife, Toni, of Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
, Arizona; and Linda Wright Tomasetti and husband, Barry, who is school superintendent in Kennett Square
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Kennett Square is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known as the Mushroom Capital of the World because mushroom farming in the region produces over a million pounds of mushrooms a year...
in Chester County
Chester County, Pennsylvania
-State parks:*French Creek State Park*Marsh Creek State Park*White Clay Creek Preserve-Demographics:As of the 2010 census, the county was 85.5% White, 6.1% Black or African American, 0.2% Native American or Alaskan Native, 3.9% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian, 1.8% were two or more races, and 2.4% were...
in southeastern Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Wright was survived by a sister, Suzanne W. Gillies of Houston; a brother, Michal Wright of North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
; five grandchildren, and one great-grandson.
A memorial service was held on January 30, 2011, at Christchurch Baptist Fellowship at 12501 Champion Forest Drive in Houston.
One of Wright's admirers, Gary M. Polland
Gary M. Polland
Gary Michael Polland is a Houston, Texas, attorney who is the former elected chairman of the Harris County Republican Party and the publisher of the Texas Conservate Review, which he issues periodically on the Internet. From 2001-2006, the politically conservative Polland cohosted with the...
, former Harris County GOP chairman, said that the activist "had an infectious personality, strong laugh, and his enthusiasm and zest for ideas and issues would leave you passionate one way or another."