Longest Gift Funds Transfer Scholarships

"Doc" Bill Longest, of Oxford, a U.S. Air Force veteran and UM professor of biology for 24 years, died in January 2024. The William D. Longest Scholarship Endowment helps transfer students who otherwise may not have the financial means to complete four-year degrees. First preference goes to students from Calhoun County, where Longest grew up.

Such gifts are essential to the university's growth, Provost Noel Wilkin said.

"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, 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, he enrolled at the former Northwest Mississippi Junior College, now Northwest Mississippi Community College 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 master's degrees in plant physiology before completing a doctorate 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, 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 and LSU. But most of his teaching career was at Ole Miss, and many of Oxford's physicians and dentists were among his former 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," he said. "One of them is my internist that I go to all the time.

"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.'"

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.

Besides 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.

Top: Bill Longest enjoys a moment of reflection on his porch in Oxford in 2019. Longest, who died in January 2024, left nearly $250,000 to fund a scholarship for transfer students. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation