Raymond E. Wright

Raymond was born on September 3rd, 1932 to Charles and Madeline Wright. Raised alongside his brother and sister in Evansville, he attended Bosse High School. After graduation he joined the Air Force and served his Country in the Korean War, with hopes to further his education through the use of the GI Bill. Upon completion of his military service, Ray went on to earn a BS in Accounting at Evansville College (University of Evansville). While in college, he met and married the love of his life, Marilyn Louise Wright. The two were married on June 2nd, 1956 at St. Lucas Church in Evansville, and celebrated 65 wonderful years of marriage last year. Ray and Marilyn were blessed with a beautiful life together. They worshipped the Lord, traveled the world, poured their lives into growing the family businesses, and found joy in every day that they spent together. Ray and Marilyn were blessed with three amazing sons, Michael, Mark, and Matthew.

Ray and Marilyn spent their lives building a beautiful family and various successful businesses together. Ray’s first job out of school was in public accounting at a big eight firm in Chicago, after which he went on to work at General Foods and then Fiberfil. While at Fiberfil, he transitioned into his first management role and realized pretty quickly it was a role he exceled at. As a Manager, Ray also identified several inefficiencies in the operations at Fiberfil and set out to conquer the plastics industry on his own. A born leader, he took the industry knowledge and management skillset he had gained and started his first company, Complas, in 1973. Ray went on to start a second business, Replas, and in 1979 he made a successful transition through the sale of both businesses to Ferro Corporation. After working as the General Manager of the Plastics Division of Ferro Corporation for five years, he decided his entrepreneurial spirit was more akin to building his own business and he started his third venture, Matrixx Group in 1985. With time and experience on his side, Ray built Matrixx organically and through various acquisitions of smaller plastics players globally. After years of hard work and success, the Company was sold in 2007 to Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm based in Chicago. Outside of the plastics industry, Ray was also an owner of various other ventures including Cambridge Golf Course, Buchta Trucking, and Four-M Properties.

Outside of work, Ray found many ways to fill his days and give back to his community. He spent 65 years attending the Adults in Christ Couples class at Oak Hill Bible Fellowship, where he also sang in the church choir and volunteered to cut the grass and help with the landscaping in his free time. He was an avid fan and booster of the University of Southern Indiana and University of Evansville basketball programs. Over a period of 45 years, Ray and Marilyn attended almost all of the games and supported the players by becoming a host family to as many players as possible. He and Marilyn were members of the Evansville Athletic Club, where they met some of their closest friends. Ray was on the Board of the Evansville Association for the Blind and the Evansville Rescue Mission. He was also very passionate about giving back to his community, with one of his favorite activities being packaging food and toys for families in need alongside his employees during Christmas time. Most importantly, Ray and Marilyn made a group of lifelong friendships early on in their marriage and spent the past 65 years raising families and playing poker and bridge together. He was a dedicated collector of golf balls (one too many coming from his backyard at Cambridge), an epic builder of intricate sandcastles at Daytona Beach, a skilled pancake flipper for his grandkid’s enjoyment, a stellar competitive barbeque challenger, and a committed golfer… but “only on days that ended in Y.”

Ray was an intelligent, hardworking, and dedicated businessman, but more importantly he was a fierce and loyal friend. Marilyn realized early on in his career that Ray didn’t distinguish between family and colleagues. On more than one occasion, Ray would show up at dinner time needing a few extra place settings at the table (could be a coworker, a basketball player far from home, or a new friend he met on the drive). If you were lucky enough to know Ray or meet him once, odds are he considered you a friend and there was nothing Ray prided himself more than helping those he cared for. Ray and Marilyn had a phenomenal group of friends and family that they loved to spend time with. Friends with whom they celebrated holidays, birthdays, promotions, milestones, random Saturday luaus, and just about any other reason they could find to gather together. They were surrounded by an amazing community of neighbors at their home in Cambridge Village. They attended countless golf outings, weddings, garage sales, graduations, baby showers, and birthday parties for their neighbors who naturally turned into family. That small piece of Evansville quickly became their pride and joy.

Ray was a man of many trades, but above all else there was no role he found more important than that of being a father and husband. He loved his family fiercely and devoted himself to being a Christian role model for his sons to follow. His love for his family only grew as he was blessed with six beautiful granddaughters. He was a man of class and integrity through and through.

Raymond Earl Wright was a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend. He loved his neighbors well and dedicated his life to serving the Lord. As Billy Graham profoundly said, “The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” Ray and Marilyn’s legacy is one of that and so much more. They loved their God, family and friends well, and our lives are forever impacted because they were a part of it. We will continue to relive our precious memories with Ray and Marilyn on our darkest days for years to come.

Ray is survived by his Sons: Michael Wright (Debra) and Mark Wright (Annette); Daughter-in-law: Diana Wright; Granddaughters: Chelsea Martin (Jerod), Chloe Horning (Andrew), Morgan, Merritt, Makenna, and Jessica Wright; Great Grandchildren: Sophia, Annabella, Liam, and Samantha Martin, Rhodes and Roman Horning, and Weston Wright; Sister-in-law: Marilyn Wright; Brother-in-law: Al Mueller; Nephews and Nieces: Diane Groves, Steve Mueller (Chris), Cheryl Wright, Kirk Wright (Sherry), Chris Behme (Phil), Brian Wright (Ann)

He was preceded in death by his wife Marilyn Wright, son Matthew Wright, parents Charles and Madeline Wright, sister Juanita Mueller, and brother Charles Wright

Ray’s family would like to thank Shannon & Jeff Tovissi, Vickie Bishop and her team of amazing women, and Heart-to-Heart Hospice for the love and support they provided Ray and Marilyn throughout the past few years.

Ray’s family invites you to honor and celebrate his life on Thursday, November 3rd at Christian Fellowship Church located at 4100 Millersburg Road, Evansville, IN 47725. The visitation will begin at 10am CT with the service to follow at 2pm CT officiated by Pastors Eric Rawdon and Cliff Herring. Ray’s family asks that in lieu of flowers, you might donate to the ALS Association in his name, P.O. Box 37022, Boone, Iowa, 50037-0022.

Condolences may be offered at www.AlexanderEastChapel.com.