Doug Robinson

Lin Wright: TV reporter had 'Wright Stuff'

Lin Wright won fans with his reports for WESH-Channel 2. (Orange County Public Schools,…)

5:40 p.m. EST, October 29, 2012

By Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel

When he was a TV reporter at WESH-Channel 2, Lindsley "Lin" Wright had a feature segment called "The Wright Stuff."

His colleagues say Wright, who died Saturday after a long illness, had the right stuff as a man, a reporter and a role model. He was 61.

"He had to be one of the most positive people I know," said Jackie Brockington, an anchor at Central Florida News 13 who was a co-worker at WESH. "He was always smiling. I used to tease him. He was the most dapper dresser. He could have stepped out of GQ. He was a wonderful person to work with and know."

Wright logged many years in television: at Channel 6 (then WDBO) from 1971 to 1978, at KHOU in Houston from 1978 to 1981; and at WESH from 1981 to 1992.

"Lin certainly paved the way for African-American reporters in this market," said Robin Smythe, general manager at News 13. "But he also paved the way for all reporters of his generation here by showing them how it should be done. He had style, intelligence and humor, and was a good man. He made us all better."

Wright later worked at the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. In 1998, he started with Orange County Public Schools, his employer when he died. He was a senior manager of media relations.

"Everybody at the district loves him," said Kathy Marsh, a former WESH reporter who also works in media relations. "He had the rare gift of making you feel so good about yourself. He could make you feel like a million bucks. He was just funny, downright witty."

Marsh, a former education reporter, recalled that Wright paved the way for her to work in the school system.

"I told him I was looking for work in Orange County Public Schools, and he said, 'I think you would be a good fit,'" Marsh said.

He kept her in mind and alerted her when a job came open.

"He said, 'It's up to you, buddy,'" Marsh said. "He always used the term 'buddy,' whether you were a man or a woman."

Eddie Clegg, a former TV photographer who worked with Wright for 25 years, said his colleague never put himself first.

"I never worked with a better person," Clegg said. "He had a way of making himself part of the story, but not in an egotistical way."

WESH reporter Greg Fox remembered a "spectacularly funny" story in which Wright chased Michael Jackson around Walt Disney World. "Lin asked Jackson if he could come by and party," Fox said.

Fox had recently found 50 hours of Wright's work at WESH.

"Everything Lin did was funny," Fox said. "I worked with him five years. What I remember is just what an extraordinarily optimistic person he was to come to work with every day."

Brockington recalled, "He did some wild stories, feel-good stories. He put a lot of himself in them. I remember we all felt good."

Wright is survived by his wife, Stephanie; and his children Laura Lerma, Sonya Reynolds, Desha Sketers, Shaun Sketers, Monica Battle, Matthew Hosie and Justin Hosie.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Nov. 10 at Southeast Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, 4133 Redditt Road, Orlando. The family suggests memorial donations in Wright's name to Jehovah's Witnesses. Arrangements are being handled by Sunset Cremations, 910 W. Michigan St., Orlando.

hboedeker@tribune

Larry Leeds

Doug, thanks for sharing the information about Lindsley.  When someone from our class passes away I like to go to our Yearbook and look at the photo.  Then I go back of the book and read the parting words from our classmates.  Lindsley liked cameras and photograph plus aviation.  So sad read about another classmate passing on.  May he always be at Peace.