Vernon Wright

He leaves his two daughters, Beverly LaVern Wright and Melanie Jimmerson Bradford and son-in-law Bill Bradford, one Granddaughter, Stephanie Coburn Lotz of Ft. Worth, Texas; one Grandson, Cameron Carlton Jimmerson of Austin, Texas and one Step Granddaughter, Kristin Bradford Scrimshaw of Salt Lake City, Utah.

He also leaves four great-grandchildren, Sebastian, Brennan and Logan Lotz and Catherine Jimmerson of Texas; two step-great-grandchildren, Lauren and Hayden Scrimshaw of Utah.

Born in Bridgeport, Texas, Vernon lived his early childhood in Oklahoma during the early days of the dustbowl until he was taken in by his beloved Aunt, Dora Cage, of Sweetwater, Texas. He graduated from Sweetwater High School and attended one year at the University of Oklahoma, studying electrical engineering.

The depression days called him back to Sweetwater where he found the two best things in his life: his career and his wife. He went to work for the newly founded Sears store in town as its Merchandise Manager. He was observed by a Sears Southwestern Zone manager who took an interest in the then, red-headed fireball young man who worked fast and furiously. The Zone manager spoke briefly with Vernon about his ambitions in life and was sufficiently impressed to take him into the Sears Management Training Program and functioned as his ""god-father,"" overseeing his career for many years.

Meanwhile, he and Miss Jo Spencer married and quickly moved into the fast-paced world of transferring from store to store, 9 times in 10 years, until he received orders in 1948 to establish a new store in a new town named Baytown. He was given a budget of $25, 000 to buy land and build Baytown's first national chain department store. He and Jo and their two daughters moved to Baytown in 1949 to begin their lives as ""Baytonians.""

Vernon often remarked about how great the ""esprit de corps"" of Baytown made living and working here such a great life; to the extent that when he was again transferred to the Houston stores, he chose to allow his family to remain here and he commuted for the rest of his career, rather than move away.

He served in the Baytown community through the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Baytown Civil Air Patrol and was especially dedicated to establishing the Baytown presence in the Girl Scouts of America.

Vernon and Jo were always members of St. Mark's United Methodist Church and were charter members of the Goose Creek Country Club. They were both avid golfers and dedicated a lot of effort in the support of the GCCC's involvement in helping the local high school's golf teams.

Vernon built many long and loyal friendships with many of Baytown's Builder Generation such as J.W. Ainsworth, Hank Johnson, Herb Boggess, Nelson McElroy, Lee McNally, Fred Hartman and Nelson Longnecker. Along with the Texas Avenue merchants, the Altmans, the Paine Brothers, Sol Moore, the Edlemans, the Earthmans, the Robsons, Perry Britton and many others, V.V. Wright was privileged to help build Baytown's ancillary businesses to serve the employees of the great Humble Refinery.

After 42 years with Sears, Vernon retired, only to revive his dream of working as an electrical engineer. By that time, the invention of the transistor had changed electrical engineering to electronic engineering for those interested in radio propagation as a new hobby known as ""Citizens Band Radio."" Holding his Amateur Radio General Operator's license, he was able to anticipate a new wave of ""Ham"" radio hobbyists and invented several new products which he was able to sell through the many radio shops that popped up during the 1980s. Known far and wide, his products were used by many CB operators. He was also a pioneer of satellite television receivers and invented and patented a component for that market. Vernon spent his next 30 years as an entrepreneur who was interested in inventing the next best thing. He holds the patent on a golf putter head that has influenced professional golfing.

His mantra in life was, ""working hard and playing even harder.""

Arrangements are under the direction of Navarre Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 2444 Rollingbrook Drive, Baytown, Texas 77521, (281) 422-8111.