The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Becky Smith, The Quill
Dr. Kenneth Wright was recently recognized at the 2019 Western Illinois University Town Gown celebration held September 26, 2019, hosted by the WIU Alumni Association. Dr. Wright received the 2019 Honorary Alumni Award.
IU University Relations News Release, September 27, 2019 states:
"Wright, a longtime Blandinsville veterinarian, grew up in Macomb" literally next door to the Western Illinois University campus and in 2007 he and Betty, his wife of 44 years, decided to donate his boyhood home to WIU and make it a permanent part of the WIU campus. The Wright House at 333 N. Ward St. has served as the WIU Veterans Resource Center since 2009.( ( In addition to donating his boyhood home to Western, the Wrights also established the Kenneth T. and Betty L. Wright Scholarship for qualifying students entering Western as freshmen who graduated from a Hancock, Henderson or McDonough county high school. We are so pleased to award the 2019 Honorary Alumni Award to Dr. Ken Wright, said Amy Spelman, director of Alumni Programs. Now that he's an official alumnus of WIU, his new school colors of purple and gold certainly fit the legacy he has left at Western Illinois University. Wright is a graduate of Western High School, which was located in Simpkins Hall, just across the street from his home in 1956, and he attended Western for two years before transferring to the University of Illinois, where he earned his degree in veterinary medicine. While attending the University of Illinois, Wright still came back to Macomb each summer and took courses at Western, returning to Urbana in the fall. When he graduated with his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in 1962, he came back to west-central Illinois to join the Blandinsville practice of Dr. C. M. Rodgers. When Rodgers retired in 1973, Wright purchased his current building on the east end of Blandinsville on Route 9 and has been in private practice since. Like her husband, Western holds a special place in Betty's heart: her mother and her mother's six siblings all graduated from Western Illinois State Teacher's College. We are honored by and grateful for Ken's and Betty's many contributions to WIU over the years,said Brad Bainter, executive officer of the WIU Foundation and Wright's nominator. Because of Ken's father's service in the U.S. Navy, it's fitting that the Wright House is serving our student-veterans. It's truly a place they can call home thanks to the Wrights' generosity and their affinity for WIU.
Dr. Wright is now retired and recently sold the veterinary office property.
From left: Macomb Mayor Mike Inman, Town & Acting President Martin Abraham (photo: WIU Visual Producation Center)