Obituaries

 

                     

 

 








 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                               

Text Box: Posted: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 2:56 pm Jackie Coburn Wright June 9, 1931 - Jan. 9, 2012 www.bluemountaineagle.com | Jackie Coburn Wright, 80, died Jan. 9, at Blue Mountain Nursing Home. A celebration of life will be at noon Saturday, Feb. 4, at the Dayville (Oregon) Community Hall, with a barbecue dinner to follow. Attendees are asked to bring side dishes; table service will be provided. Mr. Wright was born June 9, 1931, in Burlington, Iowa, the oldest child of Otho Otto "Jack" Wright and Eunice Mae (Stewart) Wright. When he was 7 years old, his parents and uncle, Tollaver Stewart, moved west in a Model A Ford. They first lived in Mt. Vernon OR, and then settled in Dayville OR, where his father was the local barber. It was there that his love for horses and all things cowboy began. He worked for local ranchers, like Tommy Monroe, where he broke and trained horses for ranch work. He was taught skills by local cowboys such as Tom and Milt Weaver, Jack McCarthy and A.H. Martin, by running wild horses from Rudio Mountain and Murderers Creek on the South Fork John Day River. While still in high school, he began competing in rodeo, winning his first in Eugene, Oregon at age 16. In 1949, he graduated from Dayville High School and joined the Rodeo Cowboys Association (RCA) to rodeo full time. On June 24, 1955, he married Joan Smith between rodeo performances in Roseburg. They built a home on the South Fork River, where they raised four children, Mary Gail, Patricia Lynn, Marla Lee and Wayne Scott (Scotty, PRCA BB) . He continued his professional rodeo career, winning at major rodeos across the United States and Canada. He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1964, 1965 and 1966, and was inducted to the St. Paul Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2007. He was a two-event champion of St. Paul Rodeo. He won St. Paul’s Bareback Riding event in 1963, and he won the Saddle Bronc riding and All-Around in 1966. Jackie was a fixture around the rodeos in those days as an “old-school cowboy” who normally traveled with roughstock riders Jim Roeser and George Menkenmeier. Jackie’s son, Scotty, carried on the family rodeo tradition by becoming a high school rodeo champ and competing in the Bareback Riding throughout the Columbia River Circuit. Then later, Jackie’s grandson, Zac Compton, made his mark as a PRCA bareback rider, qualifying for the Columbia River Circuit Finals. When Jackie’s rodeo career ended, he continued to team rope, and worked road construction and logging. He enjoyed hunting, taking many trophy bulls and bucks. Survivors include his children, grandchildren and two great-granddaughters. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joan. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Dayville Community Hall restoration fund or to the Dayville Cemetery, at P.O. Box 321, Dayville, OR 97825.