After 33 years and five months, serving as the Municipal Judge for the City of Louisville, local attorney David Wilson has stepped away from the bench with his retirement becoming official on May 31. During this time, Wilson also served as the Municipal Judge for Noxapater for about twenty-six-and-a-half years.
Wilson served under a number of mayors in the two municipalities, including Louisville mayors Ralph Hathorn, Bobby Clark, Andy Woods, Louis Taunton, Moe Yarbrough and Will Hill, and Noxapater mayors Sammy Carter and Tommy Gardner.
Wilson gained his training as a judge from his predecessor, Judge Henry Woods. During his service, he heard literally thousands of cases ranging from traffic violations to all manner of misdemeanors and conducted initial appearances for felony cases. He stated that he could write a book about his years on the bench and the many different and interesting cases that came before him.
Wilson was born on January 2, 1943, in Riverside, Calif. His father, Dr. David Wilson, was an Army doctor, and when he was deployed overseas, young David and his mother, traveled by train back to Louisville, and this has been his home ever since.
Wilson is a member of the Louisville High School Class of 1960, where he was selected into the High School Hall of Fame. He was the co-captain of the football team his senior year and was All-Conference in the Choctaw Conference.
He earned an undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University and an undergraduate degree and law degree from the University of Mississippi. After law school, Wilson served in the U.S. Army Reserve for six years, with four months on active duty in Fort Jackson, S.C. He moved back to Louisville to work in his private practice, which continues today. Wilson stated that he has not completely retired but is slowing things down.
Wilson married Sandra Chancellor Wilson on July 31, 2021. When asked if he would become a world traveler in retirement, he responded that he had traveled to all of the places that he cared to go.
Wilson has served as president of the Louisville-Winston County Chamber of Commerce, president of the Louisville Rotary Club, and president of the Louisville Lions Club. He served one year as president of the Mississippi Municipal Judges Association. After graduating from Ole Miss, he served on the Ole Miss Alumni Board of Directors and was a member of the Ole Miss 1848 Society.
Wilson said, "I would like to thank Mayor Will Hill and the current Board of Aldermen and their predecessors for giving me the opportunity to be the Municipal Court Judge for the City of Louisville. It has been an honor and a pleasure."
