An estate gift from a former University of Mississippi faculty member has added almost a quarter-million dollars to an endowment established in 2019 to help offset tuition expenses for students who transfer to Ole Miss from a community college.
The William D. Longest Scholarship Endowment provides the opportunity to achieve a four-year degree for students who otherwise may not have the financial means to realize their education goals. First preference goes to students from Calhoun County, Mississippi — the county in which Longest grew up.
“Doc” Longest of Oxford, Mississippi, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a UM professor of biology for 24 years, died on Jan. 4, 2024.
UM Provost Noel Wilkin said gifts like Longest’s are essential to the university’s growth.
“We are extremely grateful to Dr. Longest for his vision to incentivize students to choose Ole Miss for their continued higher education,” Wilkin said. “It’s always especially meaningful when a former faculty member – who has already devoted his life to preparing and mentoring students – wants to give back in this way.”
Born in Beckham, Mississippi, Longest was one of seven children of Joe and Bertha Longest. Joe Longest was a lifelong farmer in Calhoun County who owned Longest Dairy. From a young age, Doc Longest delivered milk to the dairy’s customers.
In 1946, Doc Longest enrolled at the former Northwest Mississippi Junior College (NWJC), now Northwest Mississippi Community College (NWCC) in Senatobia. He soon left college to enlist in the Air Force, serving in the Sixth Weather Squadron at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma before serving overseas in Japan and Korea. He earned both the Occupation Medal in Japan and the Korean Service Medal in Korea.
After his military service, Longest attended Baylor University, where he earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in plant physiology before earning a doctoral degree in zoology at Louisiana State University in 1966.
“When I was little and Bill was getting his education and preparing to pass his knowledge on to college students, we spent many hours in the woods rolling logs over and gathering bugs and grubs and anything that can be used in the biology department,” said Jim Taylor of Senatobia, Mississippi, the oldest nephew of Longest’s wife, Catherine.
“I learned a lot about science just from being with him. He was sincere and straight about everything and he would tell me, ‘Pass your knowledge on to others.’ I wish everybody could have known him.”
After college, Longest took teaching assignments at Blue Mountain College, NWJC, Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) and LSU. But most of his teaching career was at Ole Miss and many of Oxford’s current and retired physicians and dentists were among his students.
Longest met his bride while at NWJC and their marriage spanned 57 years until her death in 2017. The couple had no children but cared for Catherine’s brother, Robert, all his life.
In 2019, Longest said many of his former students were like family to him.
“I’ve got 10 doctors and dentists in town that I had in class. One of them is my internist that I go to all the time,” he said in 2019.
“I’ve had a couple of major surgeries and the doctor who did those, Mike Lovelace, well, I knew what he could do because I watched him dissect a pig! He did a beautiful job with it, so I said, ‘That’s the guy who’ll do the surgery for me.’”
Oxford cardiologist Mark Strong, who graduated from Ole Miss in 1991 with a degree in biological science and from the UM School of Medicine in 1996, remembers his professor fondly.
“Dr. Bill Longest was a gentle giant, a very animated instructor and a very kind man,” Strong said. “He took me under his wing as a sophomore biology major and his confidence in me gave me confidence in myself. I owe a significant part of my success to Dr. Longest.”
UM alumnus AJ Cochet, Longest’s next-door neighbor, said “Doc” and his wife always treated him like a grandson.
“I would hunt with my friends on their property and afterwards Catherine would fix us a big meal. It was a feast really,” Cochet said. “I would refer to him as a noble gentleman. He had this supreme ethic of love, character and integrity that a lot of people just don’t have.”
The Longests were active members of College Hill Presbyterian Church, where he served as an elder and treasurer for many years. He also dedicated his time to the community as a member of the College Hill Water Association board.
In their later years, the Longests were cared for by Taylor and by their close friends, UM alumni Darlene and Tom Hoar of Oxford.
In addition to his UM endowment, Longest established two academic scholarships at NWCC: the Dr. William D. and Catherine Taylor Longest Endowment honors his wife and the Joe W. Longest, Jr. Endowment honors his father.
To support the Dr. William D. Longest Scholarship Endowment, send a contribution with the endowment’s name written in the check’s memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655. Gifts can also be made online at https://give.olemiss.edu.
For information on including the University of Mississippi in estate plans, click here or contact Marc Littlecott at marcplan@olemiss.edu or 662-915-6625.
By Bill Dabney/UM Foundation