Ellis H. Wright, `Helpmate' To Region's Foremost Builders

Ellis H. Wright was a classic woman of her time, defining her life in a way that contemporary women might find anachronistic.

She was a lady, a devoted mother and wife, a "helpmate," as her daughter, Janet Wright Ketcham, described her.

Born with the century, Mrs. Wright's career went from a one-room schoolhouse, where she taught, to the Seattle Women's Motor Corps, where she drove troop transports and ambulances during World War II, to Laurelhurst, where she entertained Seattle society.

From the time she married in 1926, Mrs. Wright was foremost a wife and mother.

"Her life was mostly reflecting her husband and her family," said her daughter.

There was much to reflect. Her husband, Howard H. Wright, and son, Howard S., built the company that built, among many other local landmarks, the Space Needle, the Columbia Seafirst Center and the Washington Mutual Tower. Under their leadership, the Howard S. Wright Construction Co., became the foremost builder in the region.

Although she never swung a hammer or wrote a budget, the company was as much hers as theirs, her children say.

"To today's woman, they might say, what did she ever do? In those days, backing your husband was what you did. She was a helpmate," Ketcham said.

Mrs. Wright was born in Mount Vernon in 1900, the daughter of a Norwegian mother and a Canadian father. She attended local schools and Bellingham Normal School, which later became Western Washington University. Before marrying, she taught all eight grades at a tiny one-room school in Hamilton.

Introduced to Howard H. Wright by one of his fraternity brothers, she married and almost immediately moved with her new husband and father-in-law to Aberdeen, where she cooked and tended to the household while they built a school. It was an indication of things to come.

Throughout her life, she did whatever she could to help her family and the family business.

The Wrights moved to Seattle during the Depression to build an apartment complex on Capitol Hill. They've been here since and for the last 20 years have been a significant force in civic affairs.

Even as the family's influence and business grew, Mrs. Wright challenged her family to do more.

"She was the type of mother who didn't ever think it was quite enough," said her son. "She would always ask me, `What about these other guys? What are they doing?'

"The Space Needle, that was one thing she was very proud of. We used to go up there when it was being built. . . . She probably felt that was the highlight of her career."

Howard H. Wright died in 1966. Mrs. Wright married a longtime family friend, Ralph Smith, in 1968. He died in 1977.

Mrs. Wright was active in the Seattle Garden Club, the Sunset Club and the George McCullough Orthopedic Guild.

Mrs. Wright died in her sleep at home in Seattle on July 4.

Her death occurred, sadly, her daughter said, in the middle of a week during which the Howard S. Wright Construction Co. was in the news because of a controversy over its billing for work on the new Seattle Art Museum.

The family no longer owns the company.

Mrs. Wright is survived by a daughter, Janet Ketcham; a son, Howard S.; nine grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A service will be held at St. Stephen's Church at 3 p.m. tomorrow.