Marshall Sheldon Wright, Jr. (1922-2010), the father of Virginia Wright-Frierson, was born in Ogden, Utah, in 1922 where his father MSWSr (see previous post) was stationed as Chief of the Surveying and Mapping Division of the U. S. Forest Service in that region.

Within two years, the Marshall Wright family moved to Northern Virginia, where MSW Sr. took a new job at Forest Service Headquarters in Washington, D.C.  There Marshall Jr. grew up and graduated in 1939 from Washington and Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia. He went on to Blacksburg, Va. and obtained a BS in Civil Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1943, and was immediately commissioned into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and served in Patton’s Third Army in England, France, and Germany.  Following the war, Marshall returned to the U.S. and began his long career in photogrammetric mapping and surveying in the public and private sector.  In 1991, he was elected honorary member of the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing recognizing his 45 years of distinguished service to the profession.  Click on this link    MSWrightJr      to read the full text of the citation announcing his election and to see some photographs from his personal life and his professional career as well.  Enjoy!

Marshall Sheldon Wright, Sr. (1890-1974), paternal grandfather of Virginia Wright-Frierson, was born on December 28, 1890, as Marshall Wright Campbell in Toronto, Canada, to Mervyn Campbell (1865-1891) and Ada Wright (1869-1907).  

His father died when Marshall was one year old and his mother moved the young boy with her to the home of her brother Dr. Frank Sheldon Wright in Salmon, Idaho.  There Marshall was adopted by Dr. Wright and his name was officially changed to Marshall Sheldon Wright.   Marshall led an interesting life in the West and eventually became one of the early mapping and surveying engineers to utilize aerial photography.  His surveying took him all over the U.S. during his 52 years in government and while in the private sector, he travelled the world.

An excellent tribute to Marshall, giving some details of his personal life and cataloging his professional accomplishments was given by his son Marshall Sheldon Wright, Jr. (1922-2010) in a Memorial Address given to the Annual Convention of the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing in Baltimore, Maryland, on April 4, 1989.  I’ve reproduced the published version of that address below in a .pdf format – just click here      MSWrightSr   and enjoy!