Raleigh Jack Wilson was a physician who made house calls throughout rural Kemper County and northern Lauderdale County, as well as a landowner who respected nature and believed in the protection of natural resources and the preservation of life. His granddaughters, Susan White O’Reilly and Mary Corinne White Shaw, do not know how he acquired the "duck pond" as the family labeled the property, but when their grandmother died the land passed down to their mother and then to them. Trying to be good stewards of their inheritance, they donated the 80 acre tract in Kemper County to Mississippi State hoping that it could be used for environmental studies. “Raleigh Jack Wilson was a caring man who believed in making things better and preserving natural resources. He was concerned with stewardship in every aspect of life.”

Susan White O'Reilly
Mary Corinne White Shaw