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Employee Spotlight:
Soda Springs Foreman Gil Wright

We all know that one guy that has dabbled in just about everything. He knows everyone and has seemingly done it all…or just about!

Meet Gil Wright of District 5. He grew up on the same family ranch where he currently lives in Thatcher, Idaho. Gil’s family has been active in southeast Idaho for years, starting with ranching and farming in Thatcher generations ago, where they continue today. Gil’s son stayed on the ranch, too, making it four generations now.

With four sisters and three brothers, Gil was one of the youngest in his family of eight. Always busy on the ranch and playing sports, there wasn’t much down time for him. Until one day tragedy struck.

While out moving cows one day, Gil’s father, Horace, was riding across the road when an impatient driver drove past flaggers and other vehicles, hitting and killing him. No one knew immediately that he had been hit because the cows were bawling too loudly. Gil's mother eventually found Horace, then went to tell Gil and the rest of the family. They never found out who the driver was who hit him.

It was a struggle for a while for his family after his father passed away, but they pulled together and were able to keep the ranch going. One of his older brothers, Drew, came home from school to help with the ranch. When Gil was 30 years old, he decided to buy part of the ranch from his mother. Today, Gil and his brother still own and operate the original family ranch — rare these days.

Raising his children mostly by himself, Gil had four wonderful kids — three daughters and a son from a previous marriage. Gil married Kellee seven years ago, and she has three adult kids from her previous marriage. Together they have eight grandkids who keep them very busy.

For many years, his family diversified and also ran a small dairy farm, on top of the beef cattle and farming. He did well in the dairy industry, but Gil decided to sell the dairy in 1996 when prices dropped way down and it was difficult to keep the dairy afloat.

After the dairy sold, Gil decided to work outside of the ranch. He laid bricks for a while and then went to work for the Calcium plant in Thatcher for seven years. In 2003, on his 40th birthday, he started working for ITD as a Transportation Tech. Apprentice at the Soda Springs maintenance shed. In 2013, he worked his way up to become the area foreman.

Into sports as a kid growing up, he has always had a passion for football. When his kids were in school, he coached the local high school football team for six seasons. He now coaches the junior high football team, which he has done for the past six years.

Now Gil has a special passion for horses. He raises horses for the ranch and also raises and races Quarterhorses and Paints. He began competing in local chariot races in 1990, and did that for 10 years. Listen as Gil talks about one of his chariot-racing experiences.

Shortly before he quit chariot racing, he decided to get into the race horse world. Racing for the last 20 years off and on, Gil just can’t seem to get enough of it.

Gil has done pretty well in his horse-racing career, with numerous wins in 2018 and a few wins so far in the 2019 season. Currently, he has two colts that will be on the Idaho racing circuit in 2020, a quarterhorse and a paint. His first race with both colts racing will be April of 2020 in Pocatello.

On top of the many passions he has, Gil also loves hunting. You may not see very much of him during the month of October, as this is his time for big-game hunting.