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Lifelong Hoonah resident Charlie Dick Wright died the morning of April 22, 2009, after a brief battle with cancer, at his home. He was 56.

His Tlingit name was Ke Neix Eesh. He was of the Lux naxadi (Coho) clan, from the Kiyash ka hit, Mother Coho or Platform House.

Born July 25, 1952, in Sitka, he was a lifetime fisherman working on the Vagabond Queen, the Mermaid and the Melissa. He was known to be one of the best fisherman in town, his family said.

He was a star basketball player for Hoonah High School before he graduated in 1972. He was the first Southeast Alaska free-throw champion who went to the "A" Bracket Southeast Tournament while representing the small schools, his family said.

He and his wife were strong advocates for the rights of Huna Totem Corp. and Sealaska Corp. shareholders.

He was also known to be a strong advocate of educating youth. He was often heard encouraging his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to do good in school and to "work smart, not hard."

He was preceded in death by his father, Frank G. Wright Sr.; mother, Gertrude Wright; sisters, Martha and Doris Wright; brother, Jacob Wright; and nephews, Harold Davis, Glade Wright and Phillip Schoonover.

He is survived by his wife, Mildred Wright, of Hoonah; daughters, Jessica Matson, Florence Wright and Samantha Wright; sons, Charlie Wright Jr. and Frank Wright, all of Hoonah; grandsons, George Wright, Gregory Wright, Keith Nelson, Matthew Wright, Jeffery Devlin, Jacob Bean and Josh Hazelwood, all of Hoonah; brothers, Frank Wright Jr., Paul Wright, Sam Wright, of Hoonah, and Jim Howard, of New Mexico; sisters, Irma Button, of Sitka, Sharon Parks, Phyllis Snively, Debbie Picken, and Margeret Wright, of Hoonah; numerous aunts and uncles of Hoonah, Sitka and Juneau; and many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews from Hoonah, Sitka, Juneau and Arizona.

Pall bearers are Charlie Jr., Frank, George, Gregory and Matthew Wright, Keith Nelson, John Parks, Mike Picken, Jeff Tischer, and Fred, Jack and Archie Lee.

Honorary pall bearers are George, Philip and Sam Martin, Lilly White, Jenny Lindoff, Louise Benson, Alice Cooper, Jenny Baldwin, Winnie Smith, Ernest Hillman, Ralph Knudson, Jim Button and William and Frank Lee.

Memorial services will be held at 6 p.m. Friday, April 25, at the Alaska Native Brotherhood Hall in Hoonah. Funeral services also will be held at the Hoonah ANB Hall at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 26.

A closed-casket visitation for friends in Juneau was held Thursday at the Alaskan Memorial Park and Mortuary Chapel. He will be taken home to Hoonah on the family boat, "Vagabond Queen," on Friday morning. People following him home are asked to contact the Alaska Marine Highway for reservations to travel on the Friday morning ferry, which leaves at 7 a.m.