An Appreciation of Lynda's Life
​Lynda Jean Wright MD of Eliot, Maine died in her sleep on 1/26/21 at 71 years of age. She specialized in OB/GYN. In a 35 year local career, she delivered thousands of babies and supported the health of thousands of women.
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Lynda received her RN degree from Northwestern Michigan College in 1975, and her M.D. from Michigan State University of Medicine in 1982. She interned at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids Michigan, and beginning in 1984 was a resident physician there.
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After moving to the NH/Maine seacoast area in 1986, she joined the staff at York Hospital as an obstetrician/ gyne-cologist and was an associate with the Garrison Medical Professional Association of Dover NH. At York Hospital she helped re-instituted obstetrical services at the hospital's new birthing unit. Stephen Wagner MD and Lynda partnered to open the York Obstetrics and Gynecology practice in York Maine. Lynda began a private practice in Kittery Maine in 2002, and she moved her practice to her home in 2017.
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Her goal as an independent physician was to always be available for patient needs. It meant being responsive with immediate care, extended appointments and being "on-call" after office hours. She often counseled and supported patients during a life crisis (both medically and emotionally). Lynda valued maintaining long-term personal relationships and this often resulted in care and birth delivery for multiple generations in a family. Her patients were truly her best friends. Many had been with her for more than 30 years.
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She was deeply involved in a variety of creative activities, including gardening, creating clothing and fabric art, ceramics, and nature photography. Lynda was also an enthusiastic collector of antique items, and in designing interiors. This contributed to a beautiful and peaceful office environment – an important goal for her. Singing and folk dancing were two of her great passions (as were cycling and kayaking in earlier years). She was a featured vocalist with the Funky Divas of Gospel, involved with many acapella groups, sang with local Jazz and Folk musicians, and sang in a Swing music quintet with her partner Joel.
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Lynda's family includes daughter Stefani Wright, son Chris Wright, grandson Justin, brother Richard Wright, sister Nancy Barr and Lynda's life partner Joel Glassman. Her late mother and father Margaret and Lester French lived in Roscommon Michigan.
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Lynda's website at https://www.lyndawrightmdeliot.com/ is becoming a memorial tribute to her life. It will be the place to read about plans for a memorial gathering. Due to current public health concerns, this is likely to occur in the summer of 2022.
-----------Joel Glassman
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Dr. Lynda’s Story
I took the long road from there to here, growing up in the “suburbs” of a town of 800 people in northern Michigan. When I graduated high school and headed off to college, I got sidetracked by young love, married, left college and had two babies. Five years later, my children and I set out on our own. With no job and no education, I found work as a nurse’s aide then went to nursing school and graduated with an RN degree. After working in a hospital for a year, a serious health issue made me realize that our time here is limited, and that waiting for later to follow my dreams might be too late.
I started pre-med classes that year, applied to medical school at Michigan State at 28 years old, then began residency in OB/GYN in Grand Rapids. At 37 I moved to the Seacoast and joined a large practice, helping to set up the OB unit at York Hospital. In 2002 I started my own solo gynecology practice in Kittery and have now moved my office to my home. Despite changes in the health care field, I plan to continue the personal care that is possible in a solo practice.