Page:California Historical Society Quarterly vol 22.djvu/103

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ber of the national central committee. At the time of his death he was an honorary national committeeman.

He was a one-time town trustee of Hillsborough, and during the first World War, was a major in the United States Army, serving as judge advo- cate in the 91st Division.

Samuel Knight was married in 1895 to Mary Hurd Holbrook, also a member of an eminent early San Francisco family. Besides the widow, he is survived by a brother, Robert Knight.


George H. B. Wright 1875-1942

Born on April 14, 1875, in Toronto, Canada, with his death on December 12, 1942, in Berkeley, California, Canon George H. B. Wright completed a span of sixty-seven years, the first decades of which were devoted to school- ing in preparation for his life's work, and the last thirty-six years to service as a church and social service leader in the communities in which he lived.

The canon received his early scholastic training at the Modell School, Toronto. From Stanford University, where he graduated in 1898 with an A.B. degree, he entered the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, then at San Mateo. By his thirty-first year he was a deacon and a year later an ordained priest. From 1906 to 191 1 he was the rector of Christ Church, San Jose.

For the next twenty years he served the parish of St. Stephen, San Fran- cisco. It was natural that he should go from St. Stephen to Grace Cathedral to become canon precentor .No more gracious leadership has ever presided over diocesan council. The canon had a message not only for his church, but one that was heard and heeded by all the youth in his parish as well as the community at large.

Probably this work began at Stephen's. There he founded Boy Scout Troop No. 16, of which he was a counsel minister at the time of his death. Not only was he a leader in the boy scout movement but also in other organizations demanding service, such as the Travelers' Aid and the Indian Association, and St. Dorothy's Rest.

The canon was blessed with a presence, a full voice, and natural leader- ship. From his followers he received not only respect but personal devotion. Neither were his gentleness, reality, courtesy, nor simplicity lost upon them. Some looked upon him as a saint. All appreciated his approach to the ideal.