Alan Christopher Wright

Al was born and grew up in Guelph, Ontario, attending College Avenue and Centennial schools. He chose to be a soldier, and entered the Canadian Armed Forces in 1979, staying until 1002. He was stationed at different locations in Canada, but also in Cyprus as a UN Peacekeeper, and at a NATO base in Germany for some years. His main love there was vehicles, especially tanks. A lot of his work was in administration and logistics in the later years, and he was conscientious accurate and prompt in those duties too. His army buddies have lots of stories about his hard work, dedication to performance, and assistance to others, but at the same time, he was often irreverent and could get in trouble resisting foolish people in higher positions. While in Europe he enjoyed travelling to nearby countries, and visiting monuments and memorial sites related to World Wars I and II. He often visited Amsterdam, where he also spent several months working in bars as a doorman and bouncer.

When the army let him go, he worked for eight years at the Toronto Humane Society, where again his conscientious approach was a benefit to the many dogs cats and other animals he rescued and cared for. He had many stories about his time driving and collecting all sorts of animals around the city. Later he worked in security with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires and lastly for the Canada Post Corporation, in various functions often related to sorting mail. He found it interesting to recognise countries, states, provinces, cities, for all the post that had to be guided to its destination.

Al was a kind, generous and loving person who did not tolerate fools, bullies or pretention. He shared his money when he had it with friends, with charities, and with people on the street. He loved his siblings and wider family, both blood relatives and those acquired through close relationships through the years and was very generous to all of them. He kept in touch with friends even when they didn’t meet for decades, spent a lot of time maintaining a really large social network. He was a great reader, with a strong focus on history, especially military history of the 20th century. For the past couple of decades, his main hobby was making, upgrading, buying and selling action figures and 1/6 figures including vehicles and military items throughout the ages. He was a stickler for details about uniforms and markings on all of them. One of his unfulfilled dreams was to set up dioramas using his vehicles and figures to tell the stories of the battles he studied.

Al is greatly missed by his siblings Janet (Richard), Pamela (the late Peter, Rachel and Daniel, Evan, Laurie and Malena), Daniel (Lynne, Jamie), and Stephen, nephew Paul (Agi, Kaya and Alexander) as well as cousins and friends around Canada and in other countries.

There will be a committal on Friday for family and a memorial gathering on Sunday, also with limited attendance. A celebration of life will be announced soon which will be open to all who knew and loved him. Direct invitations will be sent out and shared when the dates are confirmed.

Anyone wishing to honour his memory can make a donation to the Princess Margaret Cancer Hospital or the Oshawa Tank Museum.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.rosar-morrison.com for the Wright family.