Wiley Charles Prewitt

Wiley Charles Prewitt passed away May 13, 2024, at his home in Winona, Mississippi, with his family by his side.

He was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on September 17, 1939, to Frank Dudley Prewitt and Beatrice Bell “Pudd” Prewitt.  They were educators who resided in McAdams, and he was soon joined by a younger brother, Frank Jr. 

The family moved to Vaiden, where Frank was the superintendent and Beatrice taught first grade.  Academics came first to Wiley’s father, and sports were a close second.  He would be the first person to tell you that he never really liked school, but was a loyal son compelled by a father’s expectations.  At school, he excelled in football and was a Golden Gloves boxer.  But most of all, he loved the outdoors, and there is where he found his place in the long family tradition of quail hunting and everything that went along with it. Good dogs, rising with the sun and never giving up until it would set in the evening was a mantra he lived by until the very end.

He graduated from Vaiden High School and earned a business degree from Mississippi State University in 1962.  That same year, Wiley married Martha Joan Patridge from Winona and began working for her father at DV Patridge Lumber Company.  And there, in Joan’s hometown, they raised their family on Church Street.  Wiley was a member of the Mississippi Lumber Manufacturers Association, and the Southern Lumber Manufacturers Association. He enjoyed learning every aspect of the timber industry from his father-in-law and mentor, DeVotie.  Land management and reforestation were passions that he relished his entire life. He served on the board at the Bank of Winona for over 40 years.

His career allowed him to do what he loved, and that was spend time in the outdoors, which he did with zeal.  He hunted and fished for everything in the state of Mississippi and beyond.  Wiley was an indulgent father, and raised his sons outside, teaching them about woods, streams, swamps, and all the magic they hold.  A good dog that could hold a point and retrieve a bird, the spring songs that wild turkeys sing, the perfect spread to attract a duck, planting clover for deer, and walking patiently to get enough squirrels to make a mess, or how to catch and clean the blue gilled bream was all a passion that was contagious to everyone around him.

Wiley loved his wife, sons, brother, family and friends. He told stories about John Fisher, how good whiskey tastes, and dancing to the Red Tops till the sun came up; Jim Ed Garrett and Shelton Hedgepeth; drinking scotch with Johnny King, and doing the bunny hop on the partitions between the booths in Lusco’s – and hunting quail in the panhandle of Texas. He was beautiful and will be greatly missed and will have stories told about him for years to come. Godspeed Silver Fox.

Mr. Prewitt was preceded in death by his son DeVotie Patridge Prewitt and his parents Frank Dudley Prewitt and Beatrice Bell Prewitt, all of Winona, Miss.

He is survived by his wife, Martha Joan Patridge Prewitt of Winona; son, Wiley Charles Prewitt, Jr. (Lee) of Yocona; son, Joseph William Prewitt of Webster County and brother Frank Dudley Prewitt, Jr. (Penelope) of Tallulah, Louisiana.

A graveside committal service will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at Oakwood Cemetery in Winona. Rev. Jay Anderson will officiate the service.