Wilson Bill Edison Wilcox

For the family visitation, Bill will lay in state, from 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm, Sunday, November 28, 2010 at the family home, 1201 FM 1753, Denison, TX 75020.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00 am, Monday, November 29, 2010 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 427 W. Woodard St., Denison, TX 75020 with Father Robert McBride officiating. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery, Denison, TX.

Pallbearers for Bill will be John Wilcox, David Wilcox, Aidan Wilcox, Harry Smith, Peter Munson, Ben Munson IV and Felix Munson. Honorary Pallbearers are Dr. Emmett Essin, David Munson, Ben McKinney, Robert Boyd, Richard Munson, John Munson, Leighton DeTora, David Munson Jr., Charles C. Munson, John K. Munson, Thomas McNutt, Ray McNutt, Herman Ringler, Jerdy Gary, Roy Renfro, Luther King, David Dowler, Dr. Bill Balch, Keith Hubbard, Paul Brown, Dr. John Saunders, and Judge Horace Groff.

Wilson Edison “Bill” Wilcox was born in McKinney, Texas in 1919 three months after Armistice Day and the end of the Great War. His parents, Jessie Alice Stiff and Gilford Isaiah Wilcox, named him for two great men of the era – President Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Edison. He was the youngest of eight children in his family. He attended schools in Sherman, Texas where his father was publisher of the Sherman Democrat. At the age of twelve he started working at the newspaper helping set type in the composition room and reporting on fire, police and courthouse news. He later covered Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second inauguration for the newspaper in 1937. Bill enrolled in the University of Texas, majoring in Business Administration and after college attended George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. He later earned his master’s degree in business at Southern Methodist University.

While attending law school in Washington, D.C. Bill served on the staff of Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives and congressman for the 4th Congressional District of Texas, Mr. Sam Rayburn. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 President Roosevelt requested a Joint Resolution of Congress to declare war against Japan. Mr. Rayburn told Bill: “I want you to run over to the Library of Congress and find out the wording for how we declare war against an Imperial Power, we don’t know the exact wording we need for the Resolution of War.” Bill returned with the wording and in the afternoon of December 8, 1941 Congress passed the Joint Resolution and President Roosevelt delivered his famous “Day of Infamy” speech declaring war on the Imperial Government of Japan.

Soon after the start of the War Bill left law school and his position with Mr. Rayburn and enlisted in the Navy serving as an officer in Naval Intelligence in New Orleans. He later spent 30 months in the South Pacific Theatre and on the escort carrier Shipley Bay. He was discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and returned to Texas in 1946.

Upon his return to Sherman in 1946 Bill purchased and managed KRRV radio station in Sherman and Denison and pursued business interests with his older brother, George Henry Wilcox of Sherman. In 1947 he married Peggy Munson and the couple moved to Denison. After selling the radio station, Bill became Vice President of Citizens Bank of Denison. He and Peggy had two sons, John and David, and raised their family in Denison. In 1961 he joined Roy Goodman Company as Vice President of R.S. Goodman Company. The company built electrical transmission lines and substations across the Southwest.

In 1977 Bill retired from active business responsibilities. His wife Peggy died the following year in 1978. In retirement Bill pursued many interests including traveling and spending time with his grown sons. In 1987 he married Doris Boyd and together they continued to live in Denison and enjoyed traveling together as well as pursuing various civic activities.

Bill served on numerous corporate boards over the years including Citizens National Bank, Texas America Bank, Munson Realty Company, Nueces Minerals Company, Denison Cotton Mill, and the Team Bank Advisory Board. He was a Charter Member of the Grayson County College and served on the Board of Trustees of the College for many years. Bill chaired or served on the boards of many local civic efforts over the years including: Grayson County Red Cross, Grayson County Crippled Children, Denison Girls Club, District Chairman and Board of the Denison Boy Scouts, Holy Family School in McKinney, the Redfern School for Dyslexia, St. Luke’s Episcopal School, the Board of the Denison Hospital Authority, the Denison Rotary Club where he was formerly president, Chairman and Board Member of the Grayson County Child Welfare Board, the Texas Bar Grievance Committee, and the Grayson County Appraisal District.

He was an active member of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church where he had served as a member of the Vestry. Before joining St. Luke’s he had been a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Denison where he taught Sunday school for many years.

Bill served for many years on the Board of Texoma Medical Center, the Texoma Medical Center Foundation and the Regensberger Foundation. In 1980 Bill and his two sons donated the Peggy Munson Trauma Center at Texoma Medical Center. When Texoma Medical Center began efforts to build the original Reba Ranch House, Bill became very involved in the project to see the Ranch House come to completion.

In 1997 Bill was recognized as a Laureate in the Texoma Business Hall of Fame. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters by Austin College in 2000 for his contributions to the community over the years. One of Bill’s guiding principles in life was his belief that all we will ever have some day is what we give to others.

Bill leaves behind his wife Doris of Denison; his son John Wilcox of Dallas, Texas; his son Dr. David Wilcox, and his wife Charlotte Pierce, as well as their two children, Aidan Wilcox and Lillian Wilcox of Arlington, Massachusetts; and Robert Boyd of Allen, Texas. In addition, Bill leaves behind an extended network of family members, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews who loved him dearly.

The family wishes to thank Robin Baio, Teresa Stokes, and Sue Withers for the loving care and comfort they provided Bill during the past several years. A very special thanks is extended to Allie Alexander, Harry Smith and Steve Golston for the many years of support, assistance and joy they brought to Bill and his family.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made in Bill’s memory to the Bill Wilcox Scholarship Fund at the Grayson County College Foundation, 6101 Grayson Drive, Denison, Texas 75020.

Arrangements are entrusted to the care and direction of Bratcher Funeral Home, 401 W. Woodard Street, Denison, Texas 75020. For further information, please call the funeral home at (903) 465 – 2323, or for an online obituary, directions or to leave a condolence, please go to www.bratcherfuneralhome.com.