12/23/2025
Clyde Lee Wright, Jr., passed from this life peacefully on December 19, 2025, at his home in Alice, Texas.
Clyde joins his son, Clyde Lee “Tres” Wright, III, his mother and father, Clyde and Virginia Wright, and his sister, Laura Virginia Wright Cain, who preceded him in death.
Clyde is survived by his loving wife, Joan Patricia “Pat” Bryan Wright, daughters, Kim (Randy) Hill and Carrie Lynn (Rusty) Bedwell and grandchildren, Sarah Hill (Chris) Bennett, Jeffrey Lee Hill, and William Bryan Bedwell (fiancée Maylen McClenic), and great-grandsons, Carter Hill Bennett and Christopher “Chip” Frances Bennett. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, “Snooky” Austin and numerous nieces and nephews.
Clyde was born on his family’s ranch in Premont, Texas on July 19, 1930. He graduated from Texas A&M University, Class of 1951. In 1955, he married the love of his life, Pat, after first seeing her at the Premont Post Office. They celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary with their loved ones just this past summer.
Clyde had been a schoolteacher, roustabout, and cattle rancher until at age 38 he chose to attend law school. He would go on to graduate Baylor Law School in 1970 and settle in Alice, Texas with his young family to open his law practice. Clyde served as Alice Municipal Judge from 1971-1980 and 1985-1989. He also partnered with Alice attorney, Jim Erck, from 1985-2002, before returning to solo practice and ultimately retiring. Clyde was a quintessential small-town lawyer and zealous advocate, a rare, now dwindling and much missed breed. His practice focused on the needs of his diverse clients, from oil-rich landowners to maids and salt of the earth day-laborers, giving equally to all his steadfast dedication for justice.
Clyde, known by many as “Buggie” or “Gdaddy,” will be remembered as always sharing a good joke, good food, and fine spirits with his family and friends. He was a fixture for a time at the Ruidoso, New Mexico Jockey Club and loved vacationing (and people watching) in New Orleans. But more than anything, he served as an eclectic historian of South Texas through his own life experiences and those of his ancestors, which histories he readily shared with anyone willing to listen. These stories, and the always unique and humorous manner with which Clyde told them, will certainly be missed, but not nearly as much as the man himself and his love for his family and friends. Pat and Clyde are members of the Alice Methodist Church.
The family requests, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Baylor Law School Faculty Fund in Clyde’s memory (Baylor Law School, One Bear Place #97026, Waco, TX 76798, https://law.baylor.edu/alumni-giving/give-back/ways-give).
The family would also like to thank Clyde’s caregiver, Anita DeLos Santos, for the loving kindness she showed him in his final months.
A Graveside Funeral Service will be held at the Premont Cemetery in Premont, Texas, at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 27, 2025. All are welcome.