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Basin Electric original incorporator Frank Wright

Wright considered rural electric cooperatives the greatest single thing that happened to rural America in his time.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - October 14, 2011


	Frank Wright

Frank Wright was born June 30, 1906, in Blackwell, OK. He was the oldest of three children. Times were tough, according to his son, Wayne. Frank attended school, but worked when he could to help the family survive. He only attended grades one through eight. At an early age, he started traveling north with the harvest, pitching bundles of grain stalks into threshing machines. One of the stops was at Turton, SD.

After working for one farmer for a couple of years in South Dakota, he was offered the opportunity to rent the farm and settle down. The farm was on the road traveled by the rural school teacher, Marjorie Bymers. There was a mud hole in the road directly in front of the farm, so Wright and his team of horses had the opportunity to meet the school teacher on a regular basis. He and Marjorie were married on Aug. 12, 1935, and lived on that farm until they bought a farm in 1947, where they raised three children. The oldest, Jerry, went on to college and became a college professor. The second son, Wayne, lives on the farm today, and the daughter, Barabara, a retired registered nurse, lives in Texas with her family.

Wright was active in forming Spink Electric Cooperative because of his awareness for the need to lighten the workload of the rural people. He was not an original director of Spink Electric, but was elected to that board in 1950 and served until his death in 1972. He also represented Spink Electric on the East River Electric Power Cooperative board starting in 1954 until his death. It was during his service on these cooperative boards that he became an original incorporator of Basin Electric on May 5, 1961.

“He was very proud and devoted to the rural electric and considered it the greatest single thing that happened to rural America in his time. The opportunity to be involved in forming Basin Electric and the opportunity to work with men and women of such vision and character was definitely a highlight for him,” Wayne Wright said.

Wright was active locally with the Farmers Elevator of Turton and served as a director for many years. He served on the Spink County Farmers Home Administration Board and the local township board. He was a member of the local Masonic Lodge and the Royal Arch Masons.

Spink Electric consolidated with Northern Electric on May 1, 1997, and the combined cooperative retained the Northern Electric Cooperative name. Wayne Wright followed in his father’s footsteps as a director of Spink Electric, Northern Electric and East River Electric. Wayne was on the East River board from 1984 to 2008, serving 15 years as president.

Wright died on May 15, 1972. Marjorie lived on the farm until 2007. She passed away on Aug. 4. 2011, at 98 years old.

(Information for this profile was provided by Bev and Wayne Wright)

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On May 5, 1961, 69 people from several states gathered at the Patterson Hotel in Bismarck, ND, to sign Articles of Incorporation for Basin Electric. Their names are on a brass plaque immediately outside of the main entrance to the Headquarters building. Kathi Risch, Basin Electric senior staff writer/editor, has been seeking information about the original incorporators and compiling these profiles.

In the next several months, prior to the cooperative’s 50th anniversary celebration to be held at the 2011 annual meeting on Nov. 9, Risch will share what she has uncovered. If you have information you would like to share about a Basin Electric original incorporator and you haven’t been contacted, please call Risch at 701-557-5606 or send information, photo scans, etc. to krisch@bepc.com.

See all the original incorporators profiled to date.