Valeri Wright

August 11, 1955 - June 9, 2020

Valeri was a long time Springfield resident and well known with the dog training community.  She was born in Kansas City and lived for part of her childhood in Topeka, Kansas with her parents. After high school in Springfield, she graduated from Drury college with a degree in accounting.  She married her lifelong sweetheart, J. Daniel Wright in 1976. They had no children, but had many devoted friends and extended family. She is preceded in death by her parents and her husband.  Dan worked for City Utilities for 43 before passing this life in August of 2017.  She is survived by one aunt, five cousins and her sister inlaw's family, Julie(Wright) Rhodes and David Rhodes, Willard, MO, along with their children and grandchildren.

Valeri had several professional jobs through the years, but her passion was for dogs and dog training.  She was a Certified member of Association of Professional Dog Trainers and was active in training dogs in the area for many, many years. Valeri was the owner of Paws Express Dog Training and taught Agility, Rally and home manners. Her many personal dogs had appeared in Theatre productions, Film and Advertising as well as some of her student's pets. Valeri and her husband also served Springfield Little Theatre helping train dogs for many productions. As well as others' pets, their personal dogs appeared in several productions including "Annie", twice, and "Miracle Worker".

Valeri was a member of Pet Therapy of the Ozarks almost from the beginning and served a term as President. Her most recent role was taking her Golden Retriever to schools to help children read. Valeri was also a long-time member of the Springfield Missouri Dog Training Club where she had been instructor for many classes.

Visitation will start at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, June 30, 2020 at Gorman-Scharpf Funeral Home, followed by a Graveside Service at 12:00 PM at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens.

Donations can be made to :

Pet Therapy of the Ozarks

c/o Nancy Hansen

4571 S. Park Ave.

Springfield, MO 6581

Springfield Little Theatre

311 E Walnut St,

Springfield, MO 65806

Republic Community Band

c/o Linda Leonard

7821 W. FR 168

Republic, Mo 65738