[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 23, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                          DEATH OF HAM WILSON

  Mr. HEFLIN. Mr. President, on January 26, 1993, I paid tribute to E. 
Hamilton ``Ham'' Wilson, who at that time had just retired from his 
long-time position as government affairs director at Alabama's Auburn 
University. Prior to that, he had been chief executive officer of the 
Alabama Cattlemen's Association.
  Ham's many friends at Auburn and throughout the agricultural 
community in Alabama were deeply saddened on March 11, when Ham passed 
away. He served as Auburn's chief lobbyist beginning in 1985, when 
former president James E. Martin established the position to ensure a 
permanent presence for Auburn at the Alabama State House. The job was 
tailor-made for Ham, who had already earned a distinguished reputation 
statewide through his work with the cattlemen's association.
  I extend my deepest condolences to Louise L. Wilson, Ham's wife of 46 
years, and to their entire family in the wake of their painful loss. I 
ask unanimous consent that an article appearing in the March 12 edition 
of the Montgomery Advertiser summarizing Ham's life and work be printed 
in the Record at this point.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

            [From the Montgomery Advertiser, Mar. 12, 1994]

                         Rodeo King Wilson Dies

                           (By Mary Orndorff)

       Auburn University and the entire agricultural industry in 
     Alabama lost one of their own Friday. Edward Hamilton ``Ham'' 
     Wilson died at the age of 72.
       ``He was the spirit of Auburn, the spirit of beef farming 
     in Alabama, the spirit of the Cattlemen's Association and the 
     spirit of the rodeo,'' said longtime friend and legislative 
     dean, state Rep. Pete Turaham, D-Auburn.
       Mr. Wilson didn't just sport a white cowboy hat to shade 
     his perpetually grinning eyes--he earned the ``good guy'' 
     image that goes with it. Since 1958, the Greenville native 
     wore a white hat to his historic creation, the Southeastern 
     Livestock Exposition Rodeo. And for 36 years, thousands 
     showed appreciation for his work by flocking to Garrett 
     Coliseum for the annual event, which returns later this 
     month.
       Mr. Wilson was king of the rodeo from the day of its birth 
     to the day of his death. He was at the rodeo's ticket office 
     Wednesday, the day of the heart attack that eventually took 
     his life.
       As executive vice president of the Alabama Cattlemen's 
     Association, the livestock ring leader nurtured the industry, 
     the rodeo and the association for more than 40 years.
       ``His work, his work was his greatest passion. He gave his 
     life to his work to the Alabama Cattleman's Association, to 
     Auburn University and to the rodeo,'' said his wife of 46 
     years, Louise L. Wilson.
       Their children, Edward Hamilton Wilson Jr. and Nancy Wilson 
     Blount, live in Montgomery with five grandchildren, Bradley, 
     Hallie and Nancy Beth Wilson, and Jess and Wilson Blount. A 
     sister, Elizabeth W. Kitching lives in Greenville.
       Bill Blount, chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, 
     described his father-in-law Friday as vibrant.
       ``I remember lively discussions around the Sunday dinner 
     table,'' Mr. Blount said. ``He cared passionately about 
     current events, about his state, his city and his country.''
       Even in the sticky arena of politics, friends and rivals 
     recalled Ham Wilson's honesty and integrity. Protecting the 
     cattle industry in legislative battles was a job requirement, 
     and he was Auburn University's first full-time lobbyist from 
     1985 to 1992.
       ``Ham was successful because he was the kind of fellow who 
     is a friend to everyone,'' said House Speaker Jimmy Clark, D-
     Eufaula.
       It's been said the cattlemen's group rarely sought 
     legislation, but what it had on the books was nearly sacred.
       ``I was kind of lucky,'' Mr. Wilson said in a December 1992 
     interview before his retirement from the Auburn post. ``I not 
     only knew the lawmakers, I knew their mammas and daddies.''
       Mr. Wilson and Rep. Turnham were college buddies at the 
     Loveliest Village on the Plains, where Mr. Wilson graduated 
     in 1943 with a degree in agricultural science. ``I've never 
     seen a more caring and unselfish person in my whole life,'' 
     Rep. Turnham said.
       The list of civic and community groups that count the World 
     War II veteran in the memberships is lengthy: Montgomery Area 
     Chamber of Commerce, Montgomery Rotary Club, Men of 
     Montgomery, Montgomery Country Club, Capital City Club, First 
     United Methodist Church, Alabama 4-H Club Foundation, Alabama 
     Sheriff's Boys and Girls Ranches, and he was a charter member 
     of the Alabama Livestock Hall of Fame.
       Honors and awards poured in, but even more poured out. Mr. 
     Wilson created things. He opened the Cattlemen's Association 
     headquarters in downtown Montgomery, now undergoing a $1.5 
     million renovation and expansion; started the Alabama 
     Cattleman magazine in 1958, one of the nation's largest and 
     most widely recognized livestock publications; and the 
     country's first comprehensive beef promotion program started 
     under his leadership. In 1979, the Ham Wilson Livestock Arena 
     was dedicated at Auburn.
       In 1985, Mr. Wilson told a reporter the accomplishment of 
     which he is most proud as Cattlemen's Association chief was 
     the expansion of cattle production from a sectional Black 
     Belt occupation to a statewide industry. It is now a $1.5 
     billion staple in Alabama's economy
       By his retirement, the state association had blossomed into 
     the country's largest, with more than 16,700 members.
       ``Ham was truly a unique individual and did much for the 
     state's youth and the livestock industry that he cared so 
     much about,'' said Billy Powell, now executive director of 
     the cattlemen's group.
       Bubba Trotman, a former president of the association's 
     state and national organizations, said Friday that he owed 
     his cattleman career to Mr. Wilson. ``This is a great loss to 
     all the people of the state.''
       James E. Martin, Auburn's former president who hired Mr. 
     Wilson in 1985, said in 1992, ``Ham Wilson just doesn't meet 
     a stranger.''
       In lieu of flowers, the Wilson family asks donations be 
     made to the Alabama Cattlemen's Association Foundation, the 
     Auburn University School of Agriculture and the American 
     Heart Association. Services are Sunday at 3 p.m. at First 
     United Methodist Church in Montgomery.

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