The William V. Wright Elementary School Wranglers choir sings in honor of the late newspaperman for whom the school was named during Wednesday night's dedication of the school. Photo by Craig L. Moran. Sheri Long, a granddaughter of William V. "Bill" Wright, speaks on behalf of his family during the dedication ceremony. Click image for enlargement

Buck Wright stared into one of two glass cases filled with some of his late father's artifacts and noted that although William V. "Bill" Wright had been born in Texas, he was an adopted son of the Silver State.

"He was a great collector of Nevada memorabilia," Buck Wright said. "We spent countless weeks when I was a child exploring the whole state."

His father's collections of everything from casino ashtrays to branding irons and antique bottles now draw the interest of students, staff and visitors at Wright Elementary School, which opened in the fall near Durango Drive and Blue Diamond Road.

The man who had gathered those tangible pieces of the state's history was honored Wednesday during the dedication ceremony at the elementary school that bears his name

Bill Wright died from heart failure at age 80 in 1998. He served on the board of trustees of the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society from 1977 until 1993 and oversaw its transition from a partially private agency to one funded by the state of Nevada.

And although he was known as an amateur historian, he spent much of his lifetime leading and shaping the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in journalism in 1939 and joined the Review-Journal in 1941 when the newspaper was published from a storefront. Wright helped build the newspaper from a circulation of 3,000 to become the largest newspaper in the state, with a circulation of 89,079, before he retired in 1981.

He served as advertising director from 1945 until his promotion to general manager in 1966. As general manager he controlled the daily operations of the paper.

In the 1970s, Wright oversaw the construction of the paper's present-day complex on West Bonanza Road near Martin Luther King Boulevard. He also led the newspaper through its transformation from molten-lead typography to computerized typesetting.

A 1980 Review-Journal article said Wright's mission as general manager was to ensure that the newspaper reported the news objectively and always maintained the readers as its priority.

"The average subscriber to the R-J has lived in town for five years and owns his own home," Wright said in the article. "He's vitally interested in taxes and what happens in the schools."

The story of Wright Elementary School probably would have interested him. The school has around 1,600 students, about twice as many students as it had been projected to open with.

Sherman Frederick, publisher of the Review-Journal and president of its parent company, Stephens Media, began his career as a reporter with the newspaper in 1976. One of his fondest memories of Wright was traveling with him by car to a journalism convention in Northern Nevada.

"We stopped at every ghost town from here to the convention site," Frederick said. "Besides being a good newspaper man, he loved Nevada."