William G Wright

William G. (Bill) Wright, Jr., 94, died on November 18, 2022 at St. Catherine’s Village, Madison, MS. Visitation will be at 10:00 A.M. on Friday, November 25, at Parkway Funeral Home, 1161 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland, MS and the funeral service will be at 11:00 A.M. in the Parkway Chapel. Interment will be at 2:00 P.M. at the Hazlehurst Cemetery in Hazlehurst, MS. Bill, son of William and Clara Wright, was born on April 18, 1928 in Hazlehurst, MS. He was a graduate of Hazlehurst High School and attended Ole Miss, where he obtained his Bachelor's degree in 1950 and his Juris Doctorate in 1957. While at Ole Miss, he was a member of social fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha, where he served as president; law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta; and president of Law III class. Towards the end of World War II, Bill served in the U.S. Marine Corps. During the Korean conflict, he served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Princeton as photo intelligence officer and as Operations “A” Division officer. At the end of this tour, he served in Korea as a Navy liaison officer attached to the Joint Operations Center, 5th Air Force Headquarters. While in Korea, Bill met his future wife, Mary Hertherington. She was serving as a civilian in Air Force Intelligence. On returning to the United States, Bill and Mary were married at the Naval Air Station, Miramar, CA. During their 57 years of marriage, Bill and Mary lived in La Jolla, CA, Oxford, MS, Jackson, MS; New Orleans, LA; Melbourne, Australia; and St. Catherine’s Village, Madison, MS. Their pleasure travels took them to places within the United States and Japan, Hong Kong, Spain, France, England, Scotland, and to islands in the Caribbean. In 1990, Bill retired from Chevron Oil Company’s law department in New Orleans. During his career with Chevron, Bill performed services in California, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and West Virginia. He also spent 1 ½ years as Chevron’s counsel on a special project in Melbourne and Perth, Australia. Bill and Mary moved from New Orleans to St. Catherine’s Village, Madison, MS, in 2005. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, wife Mary, and sister, Dorothy Curtis. He is survived by nephews Andy Curtis (Kathy) of Richmond, TX; (The) Rev. Jim Curtis (Helen), of Saltillo, MS; and Mike Curtis (Janie) of Franklin, TN. Bill was a member of Galloway Memorial Methodist Church. The family expresses thanks to Tuscany 2 personnel at St. Catherine’s Village, Dr. George Patton, Leslie Haines, and Hospice Ministries, Ridgeland, for their excellent care. Memorials may be made to Methodist Children’s Homes, P.O. Box 66, Clinton, MS 39060. Bill would have wished to thank all of the personnel at St. Catherine’s who were so kind to him, and to Susan Copeland, who had been a next-door neighbor to Mary and Bill when she was a child and who befriended them through the years.