Norman and Louise Wright

Norman and Louise Wright have long been role models for family values and service to church and community.

Louise Wright has been active in the Hale County Literacy program, YMCA, and PEO, and she has served on the Senior Citizens board. She also has been a Sunday school teacher and member of the Sanctuary Choir and Women’s Ministry at the First Baptist Church. She was honored as Plainview’s Woman of the Year in 1991.

Louise Syms was born in Clovis but grew up in Albuquerque and graduated from high school there. She married Norman Wright in Albuquerque in 1950. They have four children, 11 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Norman Wright, a banker later involved in insurance and investments, is known for his integrity in business and his tireless devotion to community and church. A native of Vandalia, Illinois, he was an artillery officer during the Korean War. He moved to Plainview in 1959 to attend Wayland Baptist College (as it was then named). He learned the banking business from the ground up, rising to leadership positions in a short time. He was associated with Hale County State Bank, First National Bank, and State National Bank and eventually served as president of City National Bank.

He has made use of his managerial and “people” skills in various community leadership positions. Wright twice served as president of the Chamber of Commerce and has led the Plainview–Hale County Industrial Foundation, Plainview Lions Club, United Way, Salvation Army Advisory Committee, Hale County Stock Show, and Masonic Lodge. He has also chaired the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority that provides much of the community’s water. A pilot, he has flown many children to Lions Club camps. He was named Plainview’s Man of the Year in 1978.

Norman Wright is a former Wayland trustee and was a deacon and longtime Sunday school teacher at the First Baptist Church. The Wrights’ children have established an endowed scholarship at Wayland in their name.