Humans of Swarthmore: Ken Wright

I’ve had a wonderful life. Sometimes I just sit and think about how lucky I am. My parents started with less than nothing. My dad, LeRoy, was born in the dregs of Chester back in the Depression. His father left him, and my dad had to take care of his family for the rest of his life. My mother, Roma, came from a wealthy family that lost its money. 

My father started working at the lowest level at a bank in Chester. He couldn’t see well enough to go to the Army, so he was the only man left at the bank when everybody was drafted in 1941. My dad just kept learning more and getting higher and higher in the bank until the war was over and the men came back. At that point, the president of the bank told my father, “You know more about the bank than I will ever know. You be the president and I’ll be the chairman.” So my dad became the president of what they built to be the biggest bank in the county. 

All my schooling was in Swarthmore — grade school and high school. I went to college in Ohio, and then went to work for Scott Paper Company for a few months before I entered the U.S. Air Force for three years, retiring as a captain. 

My wife, Mary, and I met in high school. We got married between our junior and senior year of college and had four kids. Mary had multiple sclerosis for 28 years, from age 50 on, but I was able to take care of her. She was a fantastic person. We had a wonderful life and traveled around the world together with my mother.  

As Mary’s MS got worse, we moved to Plush Mills, a senior living community just outside of Swarthmore. She lived for about five more years, but a stroke killed her when we were 78. Living at Plush Mills meant I would meet many people over those five years, one of whom I eventually married. Joan and I married and lived seven more very happy years until she died in 2019. 

But, I really can’t complain. I had wonderful parents, two wonderful wives, four wonderful kids, and friends around the world. Who could ask for anything more?