Betsy Wright learned early on to be tough and independent.
As a child, she always wanted to do whatever her big brother, Maurice, was doing.
He didn’t want her around, but she didn’t give up. One day, when she was 7, he tied her to a clothesline pole.
“She maneuvered and maneuvered until she pulled the pole right out of the ground,” said her brother, who was 10 at the time. “I caught all kinds of … from our mother.”
Betsy Wright, who fought all her life for what she thought was right, died Feb. 17 at age 74 of cardiac arrest in a local hospital.
She was always in the middle of things. At age 3, she almost drowned in a lake during a family outing. Her father, the late Maurice R. Wright, jumped in, rescued and revived her.
Growing up, Wright was a catcher in softball. Since she was barely 5 feet tall, “there was no chance she would ever get hit by a ball,” said her brother.
Betsy Wright’s career was teaching physical education, and she eventually headed the PE and dance department for Denver Public Schools.
“Her passion (for teaching) filled up a room with energy,” said Theresa Pena, president of the Denver School Board. “Betsy was all about connecting and being inclusive. Everyone became her friend, and she always believed there was a role for every child and every adult. She was absolutely a firecracker. She was a no-nonsense … kind of person.”
“Betsy said what she thought,” said a longtime friend, Nancy Richter of Milwaukee. “She didn’t mince words.”
One time, when Richter was in the convent, Betsy Wright and friends came by at night yelling “Richter, Richter,” outside the building.
“I got in trouble, and the priest gave me the penance,” Richter said.
Wright was a favorite with her niece, Maggie Butterfield of Milwaukee, who said, “She valued everyone who came into her orbit. I can remember as a kid sitting on the front step waiting for her to come and visit us.”
Elizabeth Ann Wright was born Feb. 14 or Feb. 15, 1933, in West Allis, Wis., a suburb of Milwaukee.
Family history was unclear which date, so Wright decided on Feb. 14 because she liked the idea of a Valentine’s Day birthday.
She attended the University of Wisconsin and then transferred to Colorado State University in Fort Collins, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in PE and her master’s degree in administration and counseling.
She taught or had administrative jobs at North High School and Smiley, Morey and Grant middle schools.
Retiring after 30 years with the schools, she became a blackjack dealer in Black Hawk and became part of the “pet prescription program” at Children’s Hospital. She took her dog, Molly, a bichon frisé, to be with the patients.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-954-1223.
