Don Wright remembered

MOSES LAKE - John Swedburg, chief flight instructor at Big Bend Community College, believes his school's flight program would not be what it is today if not for Donald E. Wright.

Wright passed away Aug. 7 in Newburg, Ore., at the age of 86.

He started flying in the Air Force during World War II.

Wright was born in Dundee, Ill., and enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at 18. He flew several planes in the South Pacific in World War II, including the B-29, B-45, B-52 and C-47. He completed 30 missions over Tokyo and flew in the Berlin Airlift, providing supplies to the U.S. sector of Berlin.

After moving to Moses Lake in 1963, Wright played an important role in developing Big Bend Community College's flight program.

"He saw that it was going to be a real viable, strong program," said Swedburg.

Wright saw it as more than a small program serving area residents, but rather as a program to train career pilots statewide.

"He took it from that point and was the one who really developed it," said Swedburg.

The former military pilot had 24 years of flying under his belt when he was asked to work for Big Bend to help develop the flight program.

Wright didn't need a title to be a leader, said Swedburg. He was able to get his point across without being controlling.

"We all wanted to hear what he had to say," said Swedburg. "He didn't force his opinion. He was very strong in his opinions, that was for sure. You never walked away from a meeting not knowing his position."

Wright wasn't in it just for the money, said Swedburg. He frequently took trips to the Seattle area on weekends to inform high school counselors of the flight program.

"He had the counselors now out there recruiting students," said Swedburg. "He was not the kind of guy that, 'if I'm not paid, I'm not doing it.' He was always the kind of guy that, 'if this will help the program, if this will help the team, then I'll do it.'"

The instructor was skilled at grooming people to take on new positions within the flight department, said Swedburg. He was so subtle about it, Swedburg didn't even realize when Wright was grooming him.

"Apparently long before I ever realized it, he saw that I was going to be someone to probably stick around and to take on some of the leadership positions," said Swedburg.

Wright would come down to Swedburg's desk and relate rules of thumb and formulas he used to help run the program.

"At the time, I thought it was interesting facts, but then I realized later, when he retired, he left those just knowing that someday the program was going to continue without him and he needed to pass that information on."

Wright used his military experience to run an efficient operation at Big Bend, said Swedburg.

"Bomber pilots are always crew-oriented," he said. "He knew how to run a crew, to make a team of people work."

The whiteboard the flight program uses to schedule flights is one example, he said. He made the connection when he read a magazine article on the Berlin Airlift and remembered Wright's involvement in the operation.

"They had some pictures from back then of how they scheduled the flights and the crews and how they got that all done," said Swedburg. "And I looked at that schedule board, and it was exactly what we were using in our building, except the one in the picture was chalkboard and ours was modernized with a whiteboard ... It was the way he saw things and it worked."

Wright flew for 47 years professionally, said Swedburg.

When he retired, he had no problem leaving his program with good people, said Swedburg.

"It was like he knew that he had done his time and he turned it over to us," he said. "At his retirement party, I remember him saying, 'As I look out at the current staff I know that the flight program is in good hands.'"

"I'm not sure what the program would be like today without him," said Swedburg. "I'm positive it would not be the program it is today."