| Sources |
- [S25] Smith Mortuary Company, www.smithmortuary.com, 18 Mar 2014.
Gordon Edward Wright, Sr., age 69, of Walland, went home home to be with his Lord and Savior on Tuesday, March 18, 2014. He was a loving, and loved, husband, father and grandfather. Gordon was preceded in death by his parents Willie and Nancy Wright and sister Gaynell Sloan. Gordon is survived by his wife of 46 years, Janice Wright; son Gordon E. Wright II and daughter-in-law Monika Wright with their children Isabella and Victoria Wright and Zachariah Johnson; son Gregory Chad Wright; sisters Lorene Caughron and her husband John and Delight Everett and her husband R.M., along with numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.
Gordon loved his Walland community and all of Blount County, but was especially fond of his mountain home alongside FenceRail Gap, the mountain home community he developed. A graduate of Walland High School, where he played on its 1961 undefeated football team, and the University of Tennessee. He was also a Marine Corps veteran, retired Senior Planner for ALCOA, Inc., former Captain of the Blount County Rescue Squad, and an Emergency Medical Technician. He was a Member of the Masonic Lodge #719 and also Scottish Rites. He was voted 1981 Outstanding Young Man of the Year {Jaycees}. In 1981, he travelled to the mission field in Africa and later coached his Sons Walland Peewee Football Team. In addition to his current term as Blount County Commissioner {2010 - present}, he previously served as Commissioner from 1982-1990. He also served on the ATFCU Loan Committee, Blount Memorial Hospital Board of Directors, and Blount County Board of Zoning Appeals. In addition, he was a member of The Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center Board of Directors, where he donated and built the Wheelwright Shop in his honor of his parents.
Receiving of friends and Celebration of Life will be held at the Smithview Pavilion from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Friday, March 21, 2014. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation to your favorite charity or the Great Smoky Mountain Heritage Center, Townsend, in which Gordon and Janice are both strong supporters. Arrangements by Smith Funeral & Cremation Service, Maryville, 983-1000, www.smithlifeandlegacy.com
- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 20 Mar 2014.
Commissioner Wright’s body found in ravine
Scene of Gordon Wright Sr. body recovery
Tom Sherlin
Scene of Gordon Wright Sr. body recovery
Blount County Sheriff's Office vehicles block off the entrance to Fence Rail Gap Road near a Gordon Wright Sr. campaign sign for Blount County commissioner Wednesday on East Lamar Alexander Parkway.
By Iva Butler | ivab@thedailytimes.com
After a late-night search, Gordon Wright Sr., 69, Walland, was found dead at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on his mountain property after being reported missing Tuesday evening.
Wright, Blount County Commission District 8B representative, was last seen Monday afternoon when he left to spend the night at his cabin at the end of Fence Rail Gap Road at the top of the mountain. Family members found his disabled Jeep at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday on Fence Rail Gap Road.
At 5 p.m. Blount County Sheriff James Berrong, who is a Wright family friend, was notified personally by the family that the commissioner was missing. Searchers were called out with a tracking dog and Knox County Sheriff J.J. Jones provided the Knox helicopter to aid in the search.
The search was called off at 11 p.m., with plans for searchers to come back at first light Wednesday to resume looking for Wright. Blount County Sheriff’s Office maintained a presence all night at the scene.
At 9:30 p.m. Wright’s body was found at the bottom of an approximately 90-foot-deep ravine, which had very steep slopes on both sides, Berrong said. There is no indication foul play was involved.
In a press conference early Wednesday afternoon, Berrong said Wright’s black Jeep had apparently hit an embankment and was disabled. Apparently Wright followed the road to where a trail cut off that went to his cabin.
His body was found one-quarter mile from the Jeep.
An autopsy will be performed on the body.
Wright grew up on the 500 to 600 acres owned by his father, Willie Wright. The property extended to the boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Berrong said. “He knew that land very well,” the sheriff said.
Wright lived in his boyhood home, which he and his wife, Janice, renovated.
The house is located at the end of a long driveway that extends down into the valley where Fence Rail Gap Road ascends to the top of the mountain.
- [S27] The Daily Times, http://www.thedailytimes.com/, (Blount County, Tennessee), 20 Mar 2014.
Wright remembered as friendly, supportive, lover of mountains
Gordon Wright Sr. mug with hat
Gordon Wright Sr. served on the Blount County Commission, representing the 8th District.
Gordon’s Wright was up for election on Blount County Commission.
Blount County Administrator of Elections Libby Breeding checked with the Nashville election officials who said the late Gordon Wright’s name will be removed from the ballot and there will not be an extended qualifying deadline.
By Iva Butler | ivab@thedailytimes.com and J.J. Kindred | jj.kindred@thedailytimes.com
Gordon Wright Sr. leaves behind a legacy of caring and giving for his community and an intense pride in his mountain heritage that goes all the way back to Cades Cove.
Wright was found dead Wednesday on his mountain property after being reported missing Tuesday evening.
Wright grew up on a 500- to 600-acre tract of land his father, Willie Wright, owned that extended from Fence Rail Gap Road at East Lamar Alexander Parkway, just past Hatcher’s Cut, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundary.
Wright has since subdivided a lot of the land, selling a large tract to Kevin Clayton for a second vacation home.
He lived in the house he was raised in off of a private driveway located beside Fence Rail Gap that goes straight down into the valley. He and wife, Janice, renovated the family home place.
The Blount County Commission 8th District representative “grew up hunting and fishing with friends. We had a lot of fun growing up,” said Mike Dalton, who graduated with Wright from Walland High School in 1962. While in school, Wright and Dalton were on the 1961 undefeated Walland High School football team that finished the season 9-0.
“Wright was very friendly and supportive of his friends,” Dalton said. “He enjoyed politics and being a Blount County commissioner.”
Dalton said his friend hosted gatherings, class reunions and meetings at his cabin, including the planning session for his classmates’ 50th class reunion.
He built the cabin himself on top of the mountain at the end of Fence Rail Gap Road and had a spectacular view of Dry Valley, Dalton said. The cabin was not far from Laurel Lake.
Wright, Dalton and several other classmates gathered for lunch once a month at a local restaurant, Dalton said.
‘Took care of people’
Donald S. Nichols, who now lives in West Millers Cove, Walland, said Wright was a classmate of his brother, John, and of himself. “He was always friendly with everybody. He always wore a cowboy hat, boots and jeans and drove that black Jeep,” Nichols said, adding that it was hard knowing his friend was dead. “I worried all night about him.”
Blount County Sheriff James Berrong said he got to know Wright and his family in 1989 when he was running his first campaign for sheriff and Wright was a commissioner. “He has represented my district for many years.”
“He loved all of Blount County, but this neck of the woods was special to him and he took care of the people up here,” the sheriff said. “Gordon was a great friend of mine. I got to know Gordon, Janice, his wife, and the whole family. He was always a giving man and always helping out his friends.”
When Berrong was building his house, Gordon provided some large equipment the sheriff needed.
“It’s a sad day for me and Blount County,” Berrong said.
Laurel Lake Project
Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell got to know Wright through his position on Blount County Commission.
Two of the projects that Wright was a main supporter of were restoring Laurel Lake and turning the closed, one-lane, concrete bridge in Kinzel Springs into a covered bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists.
“Gordon was always one of the commissioners that once or twice a week came by my office to talk and discuss things going on all across the county,” Mitchell said. “Gordon was one of the people I was able to get along with on commission. We could disagree, but still respect each other.”
The mayor said Gordon was proud of serving on the commission and “took a lot of responsibility and pride in serving Blount County. He did it for the right reasons.”
‘A Shocking Day’
Blount County Commissioner Tab Burkhalter called Wright’s death “a shocking day.” He told The Daily Times Wednesday that he and Wright were working together on an adventure grant for the Townsend and Walland area.
“I was supposed to give him a call on Monday, but didn’t,” Burkhalter said. “The next thing I know he’s missing and they find his body. It’s very surreal and not going to set in until tomorrow at the commission meeting when they do roll call. When you serve with someone for 3½ years and once a month, they become a part of you and you don’t expect them not to be there.”
Burkhalter said he met Wright in September 2010 when there was an open commission seat in District 1 and he expressed interest an in running.
“(Wright) came by and we talked for 2½ hours about what my viewpoints were and why I wanted to run for that seat,” Burkhalter said. “That was my first time having an in-depth conversation with Gordon. I knew of him with his involvement in Townsend. He had his cowboy hat on the entire time and we had a laid-back conversation.”
Burkhalter said Wright left this world with much undone.
“There was a whole lot he still had to do and wanted to get done,” Burkhalter said. “He wanted to make sure the mountains were protected, and he was really a strong advocate because he helped develop some of those mountains and his family is buried up there. He spent the bulk of his time working on ridgetop, hilltop and with the Planning Commission to make sure developers in the mountains didn’t destroy the beautiful views that we have.”
Burkhalter added that he and the commissioner “didn’t always see eye-to-eye in terms of ridgetop development, but he always worked to come up with solutions and it wasn’t ‘my way or the highway’ with him.
“I will miss his loyalty and friendship.”
- [S58] Marriage Certificate.
Name: Willie Wright
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Event Type: Marriage
Event Date: 11 May 1929
Event Place: Blount, Tennessee, United States
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Spouse's Name: Nancy Tipton
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Reference ID: bk23pg490
GS Film number: 2074177
Digital Folder Number: 004646475
Image Number: 01930
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Abt 1945 - 2014 (~ 69 years)
, d. 1 May 1992, Blount County, Tennessee 
