Eva Andersen Wright, 89, of Noank, died Oct. 16, 2009, at Fairview in Groton.
The youngest of two children, she was born in Aarhus, Denmark, on Feb. 7, 1920, to Martin Astanius and Helga Hansigne Testmann Andersen of Gjern, Denmark. For more than forty-eight years, she was the loving wife of Mortimer D. Wright, longtime chairman of the Groton Democratic Town Committee and former state representative from Groton’s 66th Assembly District (now the 41st District). He predeceased her in 1992.
In 1923, she moved with her family from Denmark to Harrison, Maine, where her father was in charge of the Summit Spring Hotel, a summer resort. The family eventually settled in Lyme, where her father managed the Cooper Estate farm on Ely’s Ferry Road.
She attended elementary school at Bill Hill School, a one-room schoolhouse, and enjoyed riding the hills of Lyme on her beloved horse Silver King.
After graduating from Pratt High School in Essex in 1937, Eva studied nursing at Simmons College in Boston. In the early 1940s she worked as a medical secretary at Hartford Hospital and for the Hartford neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Whitcomb. During the war she also worked at the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
She married Mortimer D. Wright in 1943, while he was on leave from overseas duty as a volunteer in the American Field Service Ambulance Corps attached to the Allied forces in Northern Africa.
After the war, she and her husband started an insurance and real estate business, the Wright Agency, first in the Rogers Lake/Lyme areas and then in Noank, where the couple settled. The business later located in Mystic. Eva was a licensed Connecticut Realtor and independent insurance agent in their business that was in continuous family operation for more than fifty years.
An inspirational and pivotal influence in and supporter of community activism, she was a founding member of the Groton Open Space Association and actively supported numerous open-space conservation projects including the preservation of Haley Farm and the establishment of Bluff Point as a coastal reserve, as well as the creation of Noank Park in the 1950s and Noank beach and town dock in the 1960s.
A founding member of the Groton Federation of Democratic Women, she served as president and recording secretary during some of its formative years. A mainstay of the Groton Democratic Party, she always provided essential support on issues and campaigns including platform development, voter registration, absentee ballots and election day essentials. Eva was a positive influence in historic preservation and played key roles in both the formation of the Noank Historical Society in the 1960s and the listing of the Noank Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. She served on the Town of Groton Historic District Commission for twenty years, and was the longest serving member when she stepped down for health reasons in 1998.
She was active in the successful grass-roots campaign to protect the historic Branford House at the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus from private development and was an enthusiastic supporter of the Avery Point Lighthouse restoration project. As the restoration neared completion, it was Eva who suggested the need of a lightning rod and contributed funds to further protect this local and national landmark.
She is survived by her daughters, Elissa T. Wright of Noank and Hansina D. Wright and her life companion, Stephen Jones, of Noank; her grandson, Matthew W. Hemond of Salem, Mass.; and her granddaughter, Elizabeth M. Hemond and her husband, Rasit Bilgin, of Istanbul, Turkey. In addition, she leaves nieces and nephews, as well as cousins in Denmark.
Her brother, Henry T. Andersen, died in 1999.
The family wishes to express their heartfelt appreciation to the Fairview staff for their loving care and affection for Eva and family support during her illness and final days.
A Memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009, at Noank Baptist Church. Burial will be private. The Dinoto Funeral Home, 17 Pearl St., Mystic, is assisting the family.
In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible gifts in Eva’s memory may be made to the Noank Historical Society, PO Box 9454, Noank, CT 06340-9454; Groton Open Space Association, Inc., PO Box 9187, Groton, CT 06340-9187; or the Fairview Residents’ Fund, 235 Lestertown Road, Groton, CT 06340.