Dennis Shonsbye Wright (1932-2015) was born and raised together with his six brothers and sisters on the farm of his parents George Richard (of English ancestry) and Helene Margrethe Shonsbye (Norwegian and German heritage) in Rowena, South Dakota. This was and still is an agrarian community near the city of Sioux Falls. The land is notably known for the beautiful waterfalls of the Big Sioux River near its outlet into the Missouri.
One single classroom housed all the children of school age in the community. Quiet and modest, always ready to help the others, Dennis was highly appreciated by all his classmates. This was to be a constant that accompanied him throughout his life. Unknowingly hinting at the future vocation of one of his offspring, George Richard had built with his own hands – and before the astonished eyes of Dennis – a very special Ford-T. He did so by adapting various parts from T models from 1914 to 1917, finishing it off with a graceful boat-tail that he shaped himself. When it was time to attend high school, the handsome and already very tall Dennis did so at Washington High School in Sioux Falls. The bustle of the nearby Sioux City Air National Guard Base inspired a passion for aeronautics that’s so common among automotive stylists. The exhilarating whistles of jet engines and the ultra-efficient, futuristic shapes of the F-86 Sabre,
