Born: 03/01/1937 Sheffield, VT Died: 02/15/2026 Westminster West, VT Details of service: A celebration of life will be held at the Westminster West Congregational Church on Saturday, June 6 at 1 p.m. A brief graveside commitment and light luncheon at the church will follow. Frien ds and the community are welcome. Norman Edward (Norm) Wright of Westminster West died on February 15 at home in the care of family, with support from Bayada Hospice. Norm was born at home over the family’s store in Sheffield, VT, on March 1, 1937. He grew up on a dairy farm, learning to hunt, fish, and farm with draft horses and tractors. In 1953, after boarding for a year at Lyndon Institute, he moved to Westminster where his parents had moved for employment, graduating from Bellows Falls High School in 1956. On a blind date arranged by high school friend Fred Waryas, Norm met his future wife and partner in life, Marie Longe of Brattleboro. They were married at Saint Michael’s Catholic Church on July 17, 1957. In 1963, they moved from Westminster to Westminster West, where they offered a warm and welcoming home to the friends of their seven children, building lifelong friendships and becoming part of the ‘West West’ community. From 1958 to 1962 Norm served in the U.S. Army Reserve and in his twenties and thirties he experimented with career choices that ranged from farm manager of Kurn Hattin Boys School, owning a garage in Westminster, starting a home construction business, to assistant to the business manager at the Experiment in International Living in Brattleboro before he began a two-year apprenticeship in Connecticut to become a licensed real estate appraiser. On December 31, 1969, he took the appraiser’s oath for the State of Vermont and was officially appointed as an appraiser in Windham County, opening Norman E. Wright Appraisal Associates, a business he ran with Marie for over 10 years. During that time, the business grew to be the largest independent real estate appraisal firm in Vermont during the late ‘70s. In the early ‘70s he also served as Director of Inspections for the town of Brattleboro. This position and his real estate business led to many professional relationships and life-long friendships with those he met in the Brattleboro community beginning in the early 1970s. In 1976, against the advice of his father because he had seven young children, Norm ran for and was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives, winning by 50 votes. He served proudly as a Vermont-style Republican — fiscally conservative and supportive of social programs that helped the underserved — until 1983. After leaving the legislature, he often told stories of those years and was proud of the work he did with colleagues on both sides of the aisle, serving his first two years on the Ways and Means Committee and going on to chair the House Appropriations Committee from 1980 to 1983. In 1978, Norm received the Fred Westphal Legislative Service Award and in 1979 Legislator of the Year, both awarded by the Vermont League of Cities and Towns. During his time in the Legislature, he was member and vice-chair of the Joint Fiscal Committee; member of the executive committee, Council of State Government; and member of Fiscal Affairs Committee, National Conference of State Legislatives. Closer to home, he welcomed invitations to speak to many local clubs and organizations. In 1983, he left the Legislature when he was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, now the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, by Gov. Richard Snelling. He was well-suited to the job, as a lifetime hunter. This position allowed him to support policies that provided for safe hunting management and practices while allowing for the enjoyment of a sport that grew out of an age-old tradition in a changing rural landscape. In March 1985, Norm became the president of the Vermont Hospital Association (VHA), which then represented 19 public state hospitals and is now the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. He held this position until his retirement in late 2001. During this time, Norm attended conferences on health policy in countries as diverse as Denmark, New Zealand, and Russia. He was a national speaker on health-care policy changes in Vermont, attending gatherings of the American Hospital Association annually, testifying on Capitol Hill with Senator Leahy at the 1987 Human Services Forum on social policy issues, and attending meetings in Washington to discuss health care reform and the unique challenges faced by Vermont in its efforts to meet community health care needs. Other accomplishments included that of trustee for the University of Vermont from 1979 to 1985, serving on the State Police Advisory Commission from 1980 to 1984, and serving on the board of Vermont Educational TV (originally a service of UVM, later separated and renamed Vermont Public Television and Vermont PBS) from 1981 to 1983, chairing the board during part of that period. In the early ‘90s, he was chair of the Fish and Wildlife Funding Commission. Norm was involved in his local community in a variety of capacities. He served on the Westminster Board of Listers in the mid-‘70s, Windham Regional Planning and Development Board and the Connecticut River Watershed Advisory Committee from 2003 to 2011 and Windham Regional Commission from 2007 to 2017. He also served on the Westminster Planning Board and the Board of Civil Authority; he was Westminster’s town moderator for 19 years, sexton for the Westminster West cemetery for 15 years, and a justice of the peace for 16 years. He was part of the Brattleboro Rotary Club for nearly thirty years, and served as president from 1974 to 1975. Always community minded, in 2007 Norm and Marie deeded part of their property on Wright Way to the town of Westminster for the creation of a fire department substation. While he was with the VHA, Marie retired. Norm and she spent many summer weekends on their boat in South Hero, boating with friends, the family dog, and grandchildren. They had a few long-distance adventures, navigating the St. Lawrence Seaway to Quebec and down the New York Canal and Hudson River to the ocean and the Potomac River in Virginia. In 2002, Norm launched an unsuccessful bid for state Senate. Marie immediately set in motion a plan to travel the southern U.S. in their RV, becoming part of a large RV community where they met people from all over the U.S. and Canada, visited many national parks and went on Mexico’s Copper Canyon Train tour. Eventually they settled for many winters in Thonotosassa, Florida. During his ‘retirement,’ Norm was appointed a State Appraiser for Vermont, serving as an appraiser and expert witness for about 10 years, timing it out so he enjoyed time off while in Florida; working for the State for the eight or nine months he was back in Vermont. Norman was predeceased in 2010 by his wife Marie. He continued to winter in Florida, sharing  his friends, hobbies, and events like the annual strawberry festival with his companion of nearly 13 years, Claudia Richardson, who shared his home in Westminster West and now resides in Keene, New Hampshire. Norm is survived by his children Ann Wright of Brattleboro (Ben Bussiere); Mary Jane ‘MJ’ Bentley of Westminster West; Debra Demuzio of Bellows Falls (Richard); Michael Wright of Milton, VT (Lisa); Cheryl Gould of Saxtons River (Joe Ruggiero); and Jonathan Wright of Bellows Falls (Karen). He was predeceased in 2016 by his youngest daughter Chrissy Wright. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. A celebration of life will be held at the Westminster West Congregational Church on Saturday, June 6 at 1 pm. A brief graveside commitment and light luncheon at the church will follow. Friends and the community are welcome. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Westminster Cares, PO Box 312, Westminster, VT  05158 or the Westminster Fire Department, PO Box 98, Westminster, VT 05158, organizations that the family is grateful to for the support and care they provided for over fifteen years. Read the story on VTDigger here: Norman E. Wright. ...read more read less