Charles Wilson Capps, Jr. ’46

Charles Wilson Capps, Jr. ’46, of Cleveland, Miss., and former Mississippi State Representative, died Dec. 25, 2009, at the age of 84. Capps was born Jan. 1, 1925, in Merigold, Miss., and lived all his life in Cleveland. He was in the House from 1972 until he retired in 2005, and his 33 years in the House included chairmanships of its appropriations and constitution committees. “One of the reasons he was such a good appropriations chairman for the House of Representatives was because he treated the state’s money like it was his…. He always liked to make sure that the budget was balanced, and he did the whole 16 years he was chairman,” said former House Speaker Tim Ford. That meant refusing many requests, but “he could say ‘no’ to you, and you would leave smiling,” Ford said. In addition to the appropriations and constitution committees, Capps served on the military affairs, ethics, insurance committees and agriculture and tourism committees. Capps was elected sheriff of Bolivar County in 1964, at the height of civil rights unrest. Capps’ wife, Allen Hobbs Capps, died in 2004. In addition to their son, he is survived by two daughters and eight grandchildren.