John Perry Bright

John Perry Bright, 85, passed away on May 8, 2026, at his home in Marysville, CA.

He was surrounded by the sound of his grandchildren's laughter and by the reassuring words of his children, Kelley, Joseph, and Trudie.

John was born on July 29, 1940, in Kansas City, MO, to the late Joseph L. Bright and Imogene Shellito.

As children, John was often tasked with watching his sisters and ultimately taking them fishing with him, where he would try to convince them that the only way to keep the worms alive was to hold them in their mouths.

John loved his sisters dearly, though we suspect he was met with a bucket of worms and some long-overdue payback when they were reunited.

John served his country in the U.S. Air Force from 1958 to 1981.

He attended basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and technical school at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi before being stationed at ten different bases across the United States and around the world during his twenty-three years of service.

His service took him and his family to many places they made home, from Coeur d'Alene, ID, where Dorothy and John were married in 1973.

To living at a reservation in rural Alaska when stationed at Fort Yukon Long Range Radar Site, to New York, where they bought an airport limo in an effort to fit their seven kids for the trek.

To Washington State, to Greenland, where John worked as a contractor for the Thule Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) located at Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Base, and frequently wrote love letters to Dorothy.

And finally, to Marysville, CA, where they settled down and John worked as a Quality Specialist for Beale Air Force Base.

John was an avid fisherman, lover of bad jokes, and a charming storyteller with a flair for a tall tale. He passed these attributes down to his children and grandchildren.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sisters, JoAnn Bedwell, and Shirley Sleightam; and wives, Donna Kendall, Dorothy Martin, and Peggy Laughlin.

He is survived by his sister, Judy Walker; four sons, Mark Bright, Johnny Bright, Christopher Bright, and Joseph Bright; three daughters, Lisa Girolami, Kelley Laughlin, and Trudie Smith; and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

He left behind a carefully maintained list to keep track of all the family members, complete with an increasingly mysterious system of asterisks next to each person's name.

Despite the family's best efforts, they have not cracked his code on what the asterisks signify.

A memorial service celebrating John's exceptional life will be held on May 23, 2026, at 1 PM at The Silver Dollar Saloon.

You may know it as the place he visited on Fridays, carrying Walmart bags full of lemons from his own tree for the Dollar's homemade lemonade. He would trade the lemons for a plate of fish and chips.

We invite all who knew and loved John to join us in honoring his memory. Homemade lemonade not included.

In lieu of flowers, we encourage you to honor John's legacy by setting aside some "WAM" more accurately known as walking-around money, this week to "buy yourself a pretty."

This, we believe, would be the best tribute to his extraordinary influence and love, as John would often say to his loved ones, "It's just money, baby."