Marilyn June Wright

Marilyn June Wright

July 7, 1940 – February 13, 2026

Marilyn June Wright lived a life defined not merely by compassion, but by disciplined service, steadfast faith, and a quiet strength that shaped communities across decades. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Howard Arthur Cook and Elizabeth Maude Schoonover-Ace Cook, Marilyn’s life began with humble roots and unfolded into a legacy of extraordinary reach.

From an early age, she understood what it meant to serve. She became a Registered Nurse after graduating from Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York, and later earned her Bachelor of Science in Health Services through the College of Saint Francis. Her professional career as a medical-surgical nurse spanned Corvallis, Oregon; Honolulu, Hawaii; Omaha, Nebraska; and Bossier City, Louisiana, as she faithfully supported her husband Maurice’s United States Air Force career. At every station, she provided steady, competent, deeply human care to patients in need.

On September 14, 1963, she married Maurice Walter Wright in Scranton, Pennsylvania, beginning a partnership of 63 years marked by loyalty, resilience, and deep devotion. While stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, they welcomed their daughter, Jodi Lea, who remained the center of Marilyn’s heart.

While stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base, Marilyn expanded her clinical work into hospice and home health services, walking families through some of life’s most vulnerable moments. She later became a Nursing Instructor in the LPN Program at the Shreveport-Bossier Vocational Technical Institute, shaping generations of practical nurses before retiring. Retirement, however, was only a transition. She continued teaching as an instructor in the Certified Nursing Assistant Program at Bossier Parish Community College, investing her wisdom into the next wave of caregivers.

Yet perhaps nowhere was Marilyn’s leadership more expansive than in her lifelong service to the American Red Cross.

She began volunteering at the age of 8 and never stopped. Over time, her commitment evolved into regional leadership. As Volunteer Director of Volunteers for the Northwest Louisiana Chapter of the American Red Cross, Marilyn oversaw recruitment, training, and deployment efforts across 32 parishes and beyond. She trained agencies in establishing emergency shelters, prepared disaster health services personnel, and built volunteer infrastructures that strengthened community response systems long before crisis struck.

During Hurricane Katrina, tornadoes in Oklahoma, and repeated tornado disasters in North Louisiana, Marilyn worked endless hours in the field. She was primarily involved in disaster relief and disaster health services, ensuring that evacuees and displaced families received competent medical support. She recruited health services volunteers, mentored new responders, and personally trained more Red Cross classes than any other volunteer in her chapter. She also logged more volunteer hours than any other volunteer in the region.

Her leadership was both strategic and personal. She organized and conducted Red Cross-sponsored health fairs that provided essential services — including laboratory screenings — to community members who otherwise might have gone without care. She faithfully provided services to members of the armed forces and supported military families in times of crisis. For her extraordinary contributions, she was selected as Volunteer of the Year by a committee of five members of the Red Cross Board of Directors — a recognition that reflected not a single act, but a lifetime of sustained excellence.

Marilyn’s service was not motivated by recognition. It flowed from conviction.

Her life was not defined solely by professional accomplishment. She loved football and was a faithful presence at Haughton High School and Northeast Louisiana University games. She served as a Methodist youth leader for the United Methodist Church of Haughton for more than a decade, organized health fairs through her church, and lived her faith not in words alone, but in visible, practical action.

Marilyn was intensely supportive and fiercely loyal. She made every friend feel chosen. She made every student feel capable. She made every patient feel seen. Her strength was steady, her humor gentle, and her love unwavering. Her husband has been known to describe her as a “force of nature.”

She is survived by her husband of 63 years, Maurice W. Wright; her daughter, Jodi Wright Tyler and husband Tim; her granddaughter, Cady Elizabeth Tyler, and grandson, Timothy Nicholas Tyler and wife Olivia Stanley Tyler; and the many lives permanently shaped by her service.

Marilyn’s life was a testament to what happens when skill, leadership, and faith move in the same direction.

Through her hands, nursing became ministry; through her leadership, disaster relief became hope; and through her faith, service became her life’s enduring testimony.

Visitation will be held at Hill Crest Memorial Funeral Home, located at 601 Hwy 80, Haughton, Louisiana, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm. The funeral service will take place at Hill Crest Memorial Chapel, Thursday, February 19, 2026, at 2:00 pm with interment to follow in the park.