The Walden community gathered at Albany Avenue on October 22 at 1 p.m. to unveil the newest dedication to the late resident Samuel Wright: the “Samuel E. Wright Way,” a permanent name change to Albany Avenue, the street on which he lived.

The board of trustees sought to pay tribute to Wright for his contributions to theater, film, television and, most importantly, the village. Currently, Samuel E. Wright Way features a unique street sign, with two more coming soon.

John Ramos, the village mayor, opened the dedication with a speech, emphasizing the impact Wright had on both Walden and the rest of the world.

“I’m going to get choked up, I miss talking to him. Every time I ran past here, he always dragged me to the corner and gave me some worldly advice. This was before I was mayor, and I loved every word that came out. He made me who I am now to this day,” Ramos said. “From film to television, Sam has truly made our lives wonderful. From the words of The Little Mermaid songs, he inspired not only our community, our nation, but globally, he did a phenomenal job. There are people around this world still talking about Sam Wright. He has touched everybody.”

Keely Wright, one of Samuel’s daughters, expressed her gratitude toward Walden and recounted a conversation that she and her father had when they moved to the village.

“When we first moved here, it was tough for us at first. But for some reason, my dad just made people like us and welcome us. But the thing he always said about Walden was that it was a diamond in the rough…he used to tell me ‘Keely, Walden’s beautiful. All the characters that you meet, whether they were good or bad, it’s such a great town. And don’t forget that,’” Keely said.

Dee Wright Kelly, Samuel’s other daughter, also thanked the community for honoring her father and requested that everyone continue to keep his legacy alive.

“I want to thank all of you for coming out. I think that, sometimes, you think that people forget them. And you all being here is really special to us. The favor you can do to us is that you can keep talking about him, and keep talking about Walden with pride because my dad always did, no matter what anybody said. Just keep showing love and sharing it with people,” Kelly said.