Obituaries

Joanne was an aspiring actress and worked in summer stock theatre in Connecticut, and then did some work in radio and television in New York City. When she had the opportunity to do some work in the movies in Mexico, she enrolled in a Berlitz Spanish course and became fluent in Spanish. She lived in Mexico City and Havana while acting in a couple of movies and doing voiceover dubbing in English for other films, including for the actress Maria Felix.Joanne returned to Connecticut to live with her mother and father, as he was dying from cancer. In Connecticut she met her husband Peter, whom she married on July 5, 1958.Joanne and Peter moved to Los Angeles in 1961 with their son Peter Christian. Not long after living in California, they had their daughters Margot Faith and Amanda Hope.Joanne devoted herself to the raising of her children, and only returned to work once they graduated from high school. Even before returning to the workforce, she began the community service and volunteer work that would be her calling for the rest of her life.During the 1960s she served on a panel of young women (Portrait of American Women) of different ethnic backgrounds that spoke to Los Angeles area churches and civic organizations about racial tolerance and acceptance. Later she began tutoring and teaching English as a second language. When she began to be paid for the work she was doing, she worked as a director for the Center for Community Promotion in Pacoima, and then later as a community advocate for the prevention of alcohol and drug abuse at Bridge-Focus in Van Nuys.Joanne and Peter moved from Studio City to Santa Paula in 1998, where Joanne quickly and until the end of her life was deeply engaged in the life of the community. Joanne volunteered with the Santa Paula Historical Museum, tutored in the FLAIR Program, worked with Interface, was active on the Library Board, participated in the Garden Club, volunteered for the Santa Clara Valley Hospice Board, and tutored at McKevett School.Joanne and Peter joined St. Paul’s Episcopal Church after moving to Santa Paula. Joanne was very active in the life of her church; she participated in many programs and activities, including helping to organize the Daughters of the King, and even in her final days helped to organize a 9/11 memorial prayer service.Joanne was very engaged in the civic affairs of the city that became her home, and frequently spoke before the City Council and wrote letters to the editor. Joanne’s work as a founder and organizer of what has become Santa Paula’s annual Labor Day parade was a very visible highlight to her long work in community promotion.Joanne is survived by her husband, Peter Wright and her three children, Peter Wright of Midland Michigan, Margot Wright of Lafayette, Colorado and Amanda Flora of Thousand Oaks and Peter’s wife Nicki Bauer, in addition to her beloved five grandchildren: Dylan and Sophia (Lafayette, Colorado), Jasmine and Maya (Thousand Oaks), and Audrey (Midland, Michigan).A Memorial Service to celebrate Joanne’s life will be held on September 27 at 2 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal-Emmanuel Lutheran Church, with a reception to be held following the service at the church.The family requests that in lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to St. Paul’s Episcopal-Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 117 N. 7th St., Santa Paula, CA 93060, http://www.stpsp.org/index.html; or to Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association’s Hospice care program, 1996 Eastman Ave., Ventura, CA 93003, http://www.lmvna.org/site/donate.aspx; or to the charity of your choice.