[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 50 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S3632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO RICHARD BAXTER WILSON

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, before the Senate adjourned for the 
Easter recess, my State of Mississippi suffered the loss of one of its 
finest citizens, Richard Baxter Wilson, who died on Monday, March 15. 
He was a national leader in the electric power industry. He served as a 
member of the board of directors of Middle South Utilities, Inc., the 
Edison Electric Institute, and the National Association of Electric 
Companies.
  In addition to serving as president and chairman of the board of 
Mississippi Power & Light Company, he was also a member of many other 
corporate, charitable, civic, and educational institution boards.
  He was a personal friend of mine whose advice and counsel I 
appreciated and relied upon, to my great benefit. His two children, 
Richard B. Wilson, Jr. and Miriam Weems, are two of my closest and 
dearest friends. And I extend to them, and all the members of the 
family, my sincerest condolences.
  I ask unanimous consent that the obituary that appeared in The 
Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, MS, of March 16 be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the obituary was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Clarion-Ledger, Mar. 16, 1999]

              Richard Baxter Wilson, Ex-Company President

       Madison--Richard Baxter Wilson, 93, a former president of 
     Mississippi Power & Light, died of heart failure Monday at 
     his home.
       Services are 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at First Presbyterian 
     Church of Jackson. Visitation is 4-6 p.m. today at Wright & 
     Ferguson Funeral Home and 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at the church.
       Mr. Wilson was a Yazoo City native. He graduated from the 
     University of Mississippi in 1927.
       He began working with Mississippi Power & Light in 1926 and 
     worked in Cleveland before moving to Jackson. He was 
     president of the company from 1954-69 and chairman of the 
     board until his 1976 retirement. MP&L's largest plant in 
     Vicksburg was named after him.
       Mr. Wilson also served as chairman of the Jackson Airport 
     Authority, Jackson Planning Board, State National Alliance of 
     Businessmen, Mississippi U.S. Savings Bonds Committee and was 
     national vice president of the American Red Cross. He had 
     helped develop the Jackson Municipal Airport and other 
     projects for Mississippi's economic development office. He 
     was an organizer of the Pearl River Development Association 
     and was chairman of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce Committee 
     that promoted development of the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
       He was president of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, Rotary 
     Clubs of Jackson and Cleveland, the Andrew Jackson Council of 
     Boy Scouts of America, Southeastern Electric Exchange, 
     Beauvoir Foundation and the University of Mississippi Alumni 
     Association. He was a member of the Newcomer Society of North 
     America.
       Mr. Wilson chaired several fund drives including the 
     Mississippi Baptist Medical Center and Salvation Army.
       He was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson 
     where he was a deacon for nearly 50 years. He was a Mason and 
     a member of the Wahabi Temple of Shriners.
       Mr. Wilson was a director and vice-president of Middle 
     South Utilities, Inc. He was a trustee at Deposit Guaranty 
     National Bank, Belhaven College, University of Mississippi 
     Alumni Association, National Association of Electric 
     Companies, Edison Electric Institute, Southeastern Electric 
     Exchange, Mississippi Economic Council, Magna Corporation, 
     Standard Life Insurance Co., Mississippi Agricultural & 
     Industrial Board and Southern Research Institute.
       Mr. Wilson had an endowed fellowship at UM in his honor and 
     the First Federal Award for distinguished service to the 
     state. He had received several other distinguished awards.
       ``No man has expressed greater faith in, or worked harder 
     for the development of Mississippi than Baxter Wilson,'' said 
     a Jackson Daily News editorial in 1970.
       Wilson's goal and recurring motif, the editorial said, was 
     ``helping build Mississippi.''
       He was a charter member of Epsilon Xi chapter of the Sigma 
     Nu fraternity at UM and was a member of the Mississippi 
     Society of Professional Engineers. He received from the 
     university the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1979 and 
     Engineer of Distinction in 1984. He became a Paul Harris 
     Fellow of the Rotary International Foundation in 1987.
       He was the widower of Katherine Owen and Edwina Ford 
     Barker.
       Survivors include a son, Richard Baxter Wilson Jr., of 
     Jackson; daughter, Miriam Weems of Jackson; and two 
     grandchildren.
       Memorials may be made to French Camp Academy, R. Baxter 
     Wilson Fellowship Fund at the University of Mississippi in 
     Oxford or to a favorite charity.

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