Ella Louise Wright, 98

October 23, 2025

Ella Louise Wright, 98, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, passed peacefully in her sleep on October 23, 2025, at Oak Leaf Manor North. Louise was born on April 18, 1927, in Galena, Missouri, arriving with the spring smallmouth bass running in the nearby James River. Her paternal grandfather was Iroquois/Creek and may have suggested the name Ouchigan, a Native American word for smallmouth bass. Her mother Grace Malonee won her father John Homer Young over to Ella Louise, but Louise always had an affinity for water.

Louise was born in the same year that the famous Y bridge was built over the James River and (may have) watched Bonnie and Clyde drive across it in 1932. About a month after her 10th birthday, Rosco Jackson was publicly hanged, which undoubtedly contributed to her strong sense of right and wrong. She could always be counted on for sage advice.

Louise was graduated from Jarrett High School in Springfield, MO, and went on to earn a B.S. in Biology from Southwest Missouri State University. Always a tomboy, one of her early accomplishments was setting a state record for the one-mile freestyle swim. From Springfield, she and her husband, Edward J. Goeke, moved to Albuquerque, NM, where they had their first two children, Mary Catherine and Joseph Francis. John Howard followed a couple of years later when the family settled in Pueblo, CO. Louise never lost her love of the American Southwest.

A tragic car accident took Ed J. and Joe in 1954, and Louise moved back to Springfield, where she met Donald B. Wright, who she married. They had a son, Regan, in 1957 while living in Birmingham, MI. They relocated to Hyde Park, UT, and finally settled in Lancaster, PA. Together they started The Flames restaurant in Conestoga and The Source gift shop in Lancaster. Louise retained her interest in the culinary and visual arts throughout her life.

Don and Louise divorced in 1963, and Louise went to work as a chemist for Wyeth Labs in Marietta, PA, where she worked in vaccines until retiring in 1994. Always fond of the outdoors and traveling, Louise made expeditions to France, Kenya, Malaysia, and Hawaii on visits to her children. Her warrior spirit made her at ease in the halls of industry and the natural cathedrals of the world.

She is survived by her son, John Howard Goeke, of Pago Pago, American Samoa, her daughter, Mary Catherine Williams, of Lancaster, grandchildren, Amanda Kelley of Ventura, CA, Isaac Williams of Pottstown, PA, Nicholas Williams of Lititz, PA, and great-grandchildren, Oliver and Elliot Kelley and Rose and Connor Williams. Louise has left a good team in her wake.

A memorial service will be planned for early Spring 2026, at Charles Snyder Funeral Home on E. King Street in Lancaster. Memorial contributions can be made to your favorite cause in her honor. She regularly supported many charitable organizations.