Keith Wright

Keith Rex Wright, 97, died on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in Two Harbors. He was previously of Duluth.

Keith was born April 9, 1920 to Hazelet and Myrtle Wright on a farm in Indiana. After serving in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1945, Keith studied at Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, where photography became his life-long passion. Going by “Rex”, he pursued a career in portrait and commercial photography in Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. Rex was a perfectionist with his work and particularly liked projects that challenged his ingenuity. One highlight of his career was taking professional portraits of Bob Hope on several occasions. An avid ice skater in his youth, he again took to the ice in documenting the Shipstads & Johnson Ice Follies troupe for its marketing materials.

In 1955 Keith married Ethel, the love of his life and they settled in San Francisco. He was a kind, loving and supportive father of two. After retiring, they traveled and spent four years in Atlanta near daughter Carolyn and her family before moving to Duluth to be near daughter Helen. After Ethel passed, Keith began going by Rex in his personal life and lived at St. Ann’s in Duluth before going to Two Harbors last year.

Rex loved tinkering and inventing. Rex truly loved being “a showman,” telling stories and making people laugh. For his 95th birthday, Rex received a bright blue cowboy hat that gave rise to a fondness of fun and attention-grabbing hats. He will be dearly missed.

Rex was preceded in death by his wife, Ethel, his parents and a brother, and by his friend John Holmes, and is survived by two loving daughters, Helen (Two Harbors) and Carolyn (Los Angeles), and by granddaughter Angelique (Los Angeles) – whom he thought the world of.

Final arrangements were handled by Dougherty Funeral Home. There was a private family burial without services.