Donald R. Wright: 'He just had such a creative mind'

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Donald Wright works on the floor of his dome house at Lake Ann in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Special to the Record-Eagle
The front of the Wright's dome house faces Lake Ann. Record-Eagle/Loraine Anderson
A spiral generating boom places high-density Styrofoam boards in layers to "spin" the 80-foot-wide dome at the Park Place Hotel in 1964. The base layer is a steel angle starter ring on top of the 10-foot Parke Place Dome brick wall. Special to the Record-Eagle

September 18, 2012

Donald R. Wright: 'He just had such a creative mind'

Man developed the process used to make the Park Place Dome

By LORAINE ANDERSON landerson@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Tue Sep 18, 2012, 07:14 AM EDT

LAKE ANN — Donald R. Wright, a Dow Chemical research and development engineer, developed the process used to make the Park Place Dome.

He also patented more than 50 machines and processes from 1957 until 1978 for the Midland chemical giant, according to a list his family found while preparing for his Wednesday funeral. Wright, of Lake Ann, died Saturday

"He just had such a creative mind," son Kim Wright said of his 88-year-old father.

The Park Place Dome was built in 1964 using "spiral generation," a new process patented by Dow that combined the thermal insulation properties of high-density Styrofoam and the strengths and graceful shape of spherical construction.

Dow created Styrofoam in the 1940s.

Dow also patented spiral generation construction equipment, which included a boom with long arms placed in the center of the dome construction site.

The boom "spun" the dome by placing thick 4-to-8-inch Styrofoam boards in layers around the circle. The boards were then sealed together with a thermal bonding machine, also patented by Dow.

Finally, the dome's outside surface was sprayed with a thin layer of latex-modified concrete.

Other projects Wright worked on during his career included developing salt spreader trucks for Dow and designing equipment to make polystyrene egg containers, hermetically sealed cottage cheese tubs and light-weight metal-plastic laminates for canoes, car parts and carrying cases.

Wright worked for Dow in Midland for 40 years, starting before World War II and returning to work after his 1942-1945 service in the U.S. Marines.

He retired in May 1982 and then formed his own business that specialized in prototype research and design in Midland.

In the late 1960s, he obtained permission from Dow to build a 40-foot-diameter dome for a family cottage on lakefront property he owned on Lake Ann just a few miles south of the village. It took just six hours for the spiral generation machine to "spin" the dome, his wife Lucille said.

"I about hiccupped the first time I saw it," said Lucille, his wife of 64 years. "It was huge for a family cottage."

Over the next several years, he and then-teenage sons Kim and Robert finished the two-story dome house. He and Lucille moved there permanently in the 1990s.

Described as easygoing and remarkable by family, Wright was inventive at home, as well. Kim recalled an eight-foot sled he once built with a big, though low-horsepower, engine on the back "way before the snowmobile was ever invented."

"Some of his ideas were crazy-sounding, some were right-on," his son added. "He also had a desire to follow through. Some people have crazy ideas, but that's where it ends."

Visitation and the funeral are scheduled Wednesday morning at Interlochen Redeemer Lutheran Church. Visitation starts at 10 a.m. and the funeral at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Greenbriar Cemetery where Wright will receive full military honors from VFW Cherryland Post No. 2780.