James Radford Wright

James (Jim) Radford Wright, of Federal Way, Washington, passed away, surrounded by loving family and music, at 12:45pm on December 22, 2025. A memorial service will take place at Brookdale Foundation House on January 17, 2026, from 1-3 PM.

Jim was born in Denver, CO to Carroll Samuel Wright and Emily Woodard (Radford) Wright on July 7, 1946. He had one sibling, his older sister, Carol Anne (Wright) Corlett, who preceded him in death in 2014. As a preschooler, Jim lived in Whittier, CA and started first grade. Shortly thereafter, the family moved to Portland, OR. Jim graduated from Ulysses S. Grant High School in 1964.

Jim attended one term at the University of Oregon, before enlisting in the Air Force. He was trained as a laboratory technician and worked in military hospital clinical laboratories. Though he had volunteered for duty in Vietnam, Jim spent most of his enlistment stationed at the air base in Amarillo, Texas. After completing his military service and marrying Irena Alexandra Maciulis in 1969, the couple moved to Walsh, CO, welcoming their first child, daughter Stephanie Gabriele in 1971. That same year the family moved to Greeley, CO. There Jim earned his Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology degree, in 1976, from the University of Northern Colorado. After Jim’s graduation, the family moved to Salem, OR to be closer to Jim’s aging parents and to work in the clinical laboratory at Salem Memorial Hospital. Their son, Benjamin James, was born in 1977. In the late 1980s the family moved to Washington state, living in Tacoma for over 30 years. Jim retired in 2008, after spending the last half of his career working in medical research at Madigan Hospital Department of Clinical Investigations.

Jim is survived by his wife Irena, their daughter Stephanie Wiley (Christopher), their son Benjamin Wright (Erin), their three granddaughters, Emily, Kylie and Ashlyn, Jim’s two nieces Susan Corlett (Dave) and Margie Eastman (Doug), nephew Kenneth Corlett (Maribel), grandnephews Kyle and Gabriel Corlett and Tony and Joe Eastman, cousin Marvin Ivey (Cheri), second cousins and their children; and bonus family members, Christina Wiley, Carson Smith, and Kinsley Smith.