Veteran Donates $1.5 Million To A VA Hospital
By David Mercer
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Del.icio.usAssociated Press
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After serving in the Korean War, John Wright apparently lived a quiet life in Danville, where he volunteered at the local Veterans Administration hospital but otherwise kept to himself.
As it turns out, Wright was also building a fortune worth $1.56 million, all of which he left to the eastern Illinois town’s VA hospital when he died.
The staff and other volunteers he got to know in his 40 years volunteering at the hospital’s recreation therapy section were the closest thing Wright had to family, said Douglas Shouse, a hospital spokesman.
“They were his family,” Shouse said. “On holidays he would go to (meet) the recreation staff for meals.”
His colleagues at the hospital did not know much more about Wright’s life outside the hospital or his military record.
“John was pretty subdued and didn’t really talk about his military service,” Shouse said.
Wright, who was in the Army, died in March 2008 at the hospital. He was 74.
According to Vermilion County Circuit Court records, Wright’s estate consisted of a mix of real estate holdings, investments such as shares of Fannie Mae and other more mundane assets such as a money market fund.
Shouse said he had no idea about Wright’s fortune until the VA was contacted about the will after his death.
The estate only recently cleared all the legal hurdles preventing it from turning the fortune over to the hospital.
The hospital decided against publicizing the gift until after a service was held to honor Wright because people who knew him said he would not have liked the fuss.
The money will buy a 16-passenger van to take veterans on outings and will be used to renovate a recreation hall that will be named in his honor.
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