William Polk Wright Passes
William Polk Wright is being remembered as a humanitarian who gave freely of himself to others and as a man who would not settle for second best.
William Polk Wright, known by family and friends as Polk, was a retired schoolteacher and a veteran of the Korean War. He was a strong advocate of reading and higher education and loved gardening, the outdoors and the concept of service to others.
He earned his Bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University and his Master's in Education from the University of Michigan and taught special education in the public school systems of Muskegon Heights, Michigan and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He was later hired by the state to counsel and teach special education to young inmates at the Ionia Reformatory until his retirement as a civil servant in 1987.
William Polk Wright, or W. Polk Wright as he preferred to be called, was born in Rockwood, Tennessee on August 9, 1927 and passed from this life, at 91 - years - of - age, on January 31, 2019 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The fourth child born to Louis T. Wright and Hettie Roddy Wright, he was predeceased by all of his siblings: Helene Pettress, Dorothy O. Turner, Louis T. Wright II, Emma Jean Anderson, Leroy Wright and Marjorie Ann Bromfield.
Polk is survived by his wife of 58 years, Wilhelmina Newsome Wright, and their two sons, Sergeant William Polk Muhammad (with wife, Lisa Muhammad, daughters, Khallidah, Lydia, Olivia and granddaughter Kaydence) and Captain Paul Cameron Wright (with wife, Oksana Wright), both of whom followed in their father's foot -steps as U.S. Army soldiers who also served in the Republic of Korea.
He is also survived by his two daughters from an earlier marriage: Valerie Wright and Ramona Wright from California with grandchildren Doris, Nisha, and Miles (from Ramona) and Jamalon and Raymond (from Valerie); and ten additional great - grandchildren.
Polk is cherished in memory by numerous other relatives and friends including his special nephew, Louis Wright Turner of Grand Rapids (son of Dorothy Turner), his god - son Jorge O'Neil (with wife Ashley), and god - daughter Diane Duong (with daughter, Amina).
"May Almighty God be pleased with W. Polk Wright and may he be remembered often," inscribes his family. "He is not gone from us. He has only gone before us."
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