Pulaski-Nevada-Washington County ArArchives Biographies.....Bright, Richard Calhoun 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 19, 2009, 5:58 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

RICHARD CALHOUN BRIGHT.
    In insurance circles in Arkansas the name of Richard Calhoun Bright of
Little Rock is prominently known. He has developed a business of large
proportions as state manager for The Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company and
what he has accomplished represents the fit utilization of the innate powers and
talents which are his. Mr. Bright is a native of this state, his birth having
occurred on a farm in Nevada county. March 17, 1872. His father, William
Loderick Bright, was born in South Carolina in 1827, belonging to one of the old
families of that state. With his parents he came to Arkansas in early life and
lived for many years in Nevada county, where he followed the occupation of
farming, bringing his land under a high state of cultivation and contributing
much to the agricultural development of that section. Through the period of the
Civil war he was a private in the ambulance service. He was married in Bossier
parish, Louisiana, to Miss Elizabeth Franks, who was born in Alabama in 1829.
Both have departed this life, the death of Mr. Bright occurring in 1882, while
his wife, surviving him for seven years, died in 1889. They were parents of nine
sons and a daughter and of this family the daughter and three sons are yet living.

    Richard C. Bright, the youngest of the family, spent his boyhood days upon
the home farm in Nevada county and his experiences were those that usually fall
to the lot of the farm bred boy who divides his time between the acquirement of
an education in the country schools, the pleasures of the playground and the
work of the fields, for the summer months were given to tasks suited to his age
and strength in connection with the farm work. After attending the district
schools he continued his education in public schools of Prescott and of Little
Rock. His identification with the insurance business covers twenty-eight years.
He first became connected with The Fidelity in 1893. Step by step he has
steadily worked his way upward and is now occupying the responsible position of
state manager with The Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is widely
known in this connection and his ability is evidenced in the splendid results
which have followed his labors in the upbuilding of the interests of the
corporation which he represents in the state.

    On the 22d of October, 1896, in Jacksonville, Arkansas, Mr. Bright was
married to Miss Annie Louise Stone, who was born in Pulaski county and is a
daughter of Manci and Mary (Ferguson) Stone, the former a native of South
Carolina. Both are deceased, their deaths occurring at their home at
Jacksonville, Pulaski county. Mr. and Mrs. Bright have become parents of three
children: Mary E., now the wife of William A. Moncrief, of Ponca City, Oklahoma;
Richard C., who was born December 23, 1902; and Miles Alfred, born May 24, 1908.

    During the World war period Mr. Bright rendered every possible service to
the government and from December, 1917, until Armistice day was chairman of
Local Exemption Board No. 1. He is a democrat in his political views, thoroughly
informed concerning the vital questions and issues of the day, but has never
been an aspirant for office. He belongs to the First Methodist Episcopal church.
South, giving loyal adherence thereto and taking a helpful interest in its work.
He is particularly well known in Masonic circles in Arkansas, being a
thirty-third degree Mason and a past potentate of Al-Amin Temple of the Mystic
Shrine at Little Rock. He is a past master of Western Star Lodge, No. 2, F. & A.
M., of Little Rock, and has served as grand treasurer of the Grand Lodge of
Arkansas and also as secretary of the board of finance of the Grand Lodge. In
club circles he is a prominent and well known figure, being a past president of
the Quapaw Club, a member of the Spring Lake Club and of the Big Lake Club. He
has been a forceful factor in business and social circles and in the public life
of the community, standing as one of the representative residents of the capital
city.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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