Obituary of Wren Adela Wright

Wren A. Wright (Karen A. Bornstein, nee Hinrichs), age 71, of Loveland, Colorado, made her transition to the Great Love in the Sky via natural causes. She leaves behind her devoted partner George Donahue, daughter Danielle (Robert) Cole, and grandsons Connor (Ashley) and Caden Shaw, who thought she was too cool to be called grandmother and long ago dubbed her “G-Ma.” Also sister Kathryn J. (William) Lindsay, brother Charles W. (Rae) Hinrichs, nephew William J. Lindsay IV, and great-nephew William J. Lindsay V. She was preceded in exiting the planet by her loving husband Alan K. Wright, parents Loraine D. Hinrichs and Clarence W. Hinrichs, brother William C. Hinrichs, and a slew of aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as grandparents, and many other ancestors who she hopes she’s done proud and now understand what she was all about.

There will be no public celebration of life or other services planned. Wren asks that you remember her in your own unique way.

Wren faced childhood, adulthood, and medical trauma her entire life, as well as the effects it had on the decisions she’d made throughout the years. As is typical of those who live under nearly constant threat or perceived threat, her biological system pumped out stress hormones so that her body was constantly under strain. As a result, she lived much of her life in a state of dissociation, going through the motions of life. However, once she understood it had been trauma she experienced, she spent many hours working with a therapist to clear the trauma triggers. This was long, hard, emotional work, taking years to accomplish, but once her Big Badass Superpower Woman stepped forward, she began to see how the difficult memories had been driving her entire life instead of her own hopes and dreams. The work she did with her therapist guided the bad memories into the appropriate files in her brain so they simply became memories and did not play on the continuous loop that stunted her life.

Wren graduated magna cum laude from the University of Denver after 17 years (on and off) while working full time and raising her daughter. Her B.A. degree was in Literary Journalism, with a minor in Women’s Studies—two of her passions. She has been a lifelong reader and writer, having found her writing voice when she was 12. At that time, she responded to John Lennon’s poem, “The Fat Budgie,” with her own comeback “My Purple Bumblebee.” You can read about it on her blog on Medium(dot)com. Search for “Wren Wright” to see her essays. There’s no fee to view any of her writings, but you may have to create an account to gain access.

Wren was first published when she was 15 and really never stopped writing. In every job she ever had, she got to step out of her regular role to write and/or edit newsletter articles, columns, and scripts for training and informational videos. During the dot com bubble, when the corporation she worked for was downsizing, they offered a special service to laid off employees—Wren was taken off her  job in Purchasing to write their resumes. She was busy with that for an entire month and loved it.

When Wren’s husband Alan became ill with Alzheimer’s disease, she wrote articles and essays that were published in local and regional papers and newsletters. Her writing appeared in a number of anthologies, including Us Against Alzheimer’s: Stories of Family, Love and Faith, edited by Marita Golden and endorsed by Lauren and Seth Rogen, as well as Rise: An Anthology of Change, edited by Northern Colorado Writers. In 2020, this book went on to win the Colorado Book Award in the anthology category.

After Alan passed, she published her ebook, The Grapes of Dementia: My Journey of Love, Loss, Surrender, and Gratitude. This book has continued to sell steadily since it first appeared in 2016.

When Alan was sick, Wren discovered drumming at a caregiver conference she attended. A local djembe drum teacher and one of his students performed during the lunch hour, and Wren was drawn to the drum and its voice. The djembe is a hand drum with a quick learning curve. While anyone can play it, not all can play it well. Wren was pretty decent at it—she believed it was because she practiced for an hour every day. At the time, she didn’t realize by hitting the drum, she was activating acupressure points that help boost the immune system, relieve pain, release stress, and treat a range of other ailments. Plus, the classes she took provided the community support she needed, as the djembe is played in groups, with layers of different rhythms played together, in the West African drumming tradition. She later led her own groups and even composed original drumming arrangements. As Alan was on his individual journey toward the end of his life, Wren found the support of her fellow drummers helped her be there with him on his journey, as well as keep her in a place where she could continue to do that.

Just before Wren met Alan, she was led to create art, having done so only previously in grammar school. This was another way for her to voice her thoughts and emotions. She was selected to participate in numerous art shows, with her first one being a local charity auction. She also created and contributed several art masks that were auctioned off for another local cause.

She enjoyed the process of creating—from inception to learning and inventing the techniques and processes to carry her ideas through, especially where there was no path previously. Never one to wait for inspiration, she dabbled in many art and writing forms until she knew at least the direction she would take, if not the whole piece of her creation. She believed, as Albert Einstein said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

Finally, Wren believed that while she may not have intended taking the various paths that presented themselves in her life, she used her knowledge skills, and talents to the best of her abilities and was enriched, educated, and polished as much as was possible under her particular circumstances.

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