Calvin E. Wright

Wright was born January 29, 1909, in Herington, Kansas to Lee Addison Wright and Ethyl Rathbone. Lee Wright was a lumber yard foreman for the Rock Island Line railroad. As a young boy his family moved to Watts section of Los Angeles, CA, for two years then to Lund, Utah where Lee Wright secured a Homestead Act entry in 1919. The family subsequently moved to Burley, Idaho the following year and established the Wright Oil & Gas Co. Wright graduated from Burley High School in 1926 where he was senior class president.

Wright attended Stanford University and the University of Idaho, completing course work in six semesters by the end of calendar year 1929, which included a semester interruption of schooling due to health issues.[1] His year at University of Idaho Wright joined the Sigma Chi fraternity accompanied by his popular German Shepherd, “Comrade,” who was regaled as the fraternity mascot due to Wright’s dubious claim that Comrade was a descendent of the famous movie dog Rin Tin Tin.[2]

Wright married Gwendolyn Sathre on November 20, 1929 in Palo Alto, CA and during their honeymoon took their mothers to the Big Game which Stanford won 21-6. They returned to Burley after completion of the semester.

After graduation Wright returned to Burley where he was employed as a school teacher at Rupert High School and was a stringer for the Twin Falls Times News and other local newspapers. Interested in politics, Wright attended the Idaho State Democratic Convention in 1930 with his father and his father-in-law Andrew G. Sathre where Wright met Democratic gubernatorial nominee C. Ben Ross, becoming an early supporter of Ross who was later elected Governor that fall (Sathre, the nominee for Idaho Attorney General, was defeated).

Wright was also an early leader in the Young Democrats when that organization formed in 1932, supporting the Presidential campaign for Franklin D. Roosevelt as well as the re-election of Ross.

In November 1933 Ross tapped Wright to be secretary and disbursing officer for the Cassia County portion of the Civil Works Administration.[3] The state and local governments - with Federal financial support - administered this early New Deal program, created under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. Wright was later elevated to secretary of the state drought committee by Ross in June 1934, temporarily relocating to Boise to disburse more than $1.5 million in drought projects across the state.

Receiving the Democratic nomination by write-in for Cassia County Clerk/Auditor, Wright returned to Burley and campaigned for the position, ousting incumbent County Auditor B.F. Wilson, 2,309 to 1,643 votes. Wright served as County Auditor beginning in 1935.

In 1936 Governor Ross recruited Wright to run in the Democratic primary for State Auditor, taking on incumbent Harry Parsons, a political adversary of Ross. Wright lost the primary in a 38-62% vote share.

In June 1937 Wright was appointed Administrator of the State Insurance Fund by Governor Barzilla Clark. Wright resigned the County Auditor/Recorder seat and ran the insurance fund operations for one year, then resigned to run again for State Auditor, in the summer of 1938. Wright won a four-way primary and then prevailed in the November general election. This made Wright the youngest serving State Auditor in the nation at the time at age 29, and he became the second youngest statewide elected official in Idaho history.

In retirement, Wright was appointed to the Idaho Soil Conservation Commission by Governor Cecil Andrus in 1973, the first non-farmer appointed to the Commission. He served until July 1978.

Wright served as campaign treasurer for the 1974 re-election campaign of US Senator Frank Church, presiding over what was at that time the largest single political fund raising event in state history held October 20, 1973 - the date of the Saturday Night Massacre - for Senator Church's re-election bid that featured Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT).

In 1978 Wright was campaign treasurer for Idaho Governor John V. Evans when Evans sought election to a four-year term. Evans, Church and Wright were all graduates of Stanford University.

At the time of his death in July 1988, Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus paid tribute to Wright, saying, "Those who knew him well have lost a good friend, and Idaho has lost a man who cared deeply for his state and its government. I have known Cal Wright for as long as I have been involved in politics in Idaho and have always valued his counsel and friendship."[12]

Calvin E. Wright married Gwendolyn Sathre in 1929, who gave birth to Thomas C. Wright on August 2, 1931. Thomas C. grew up to be the founder of The Wright Group, a prominent publisher of educational materials. Among the titles he published was the "Story Box", a reading series which pioneered the "whole language" approach to learning how to read. At one point, whole language materials were used in more than 200,000 classrooms nationwide. In 1994, the Wright Group was acquired by Chicago's Tribune Company for more than $100,000,000.[13] Subsequently, Thomas C. Wright retired to devote himself to supporting philanthropic causes.

Information source: Martin, Boyd A. Idaho Voting Trends: Party Realignment and Percentage of Votes for Candidates, Parties, and Elections, 1890-1974.[14] and "Parties Divide Honors in Tuesday Election". The Burley Herald. November 8, 1934. p.1, 4 (table).

• Calvin E. Wright at Find a Grave