Father (Vernon) William âBillâ Wright, C.Ss.R., 86, of Liguori died Dec. 14, 2020, at St. Clement Redemptorist Mission Community in Liguori. He was born Dec. 28, 1933, in Grand Haven, Mich., and was a missionary in Thailand for 48 years. He made his first profession of vows on Aug. 2, 1955, and professed perpetual vows on Sept. 2, 1958. He was ordained to the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary on June 29, 1960.
In his first assignment, he was missioned to serve the poor and abandoned in the North Country of Thailand. He arrived in 1962 and was stationed in Udon, where he studied the Thai and Vietnamese languages. He was appointed pastor of Tha Bor in the village of Bulu, a small Catholic remnant east of Udon. He rode a motorcycle from village to village in North Country, ministering to the people.