Webster Cleveland (W.C.) Alderman of Raymond passed away peacefully in his sleep on Monday, January 12, 2015. A child of a large family of Mississippi delta sharecroppers, he graduated from Redwood High School and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, which trained him to be an air traffic controller. He also became a skilled card player during the year the Air Force assigned him to the icy paradise of Greenland. Upon his honorable discharge, he attended Hinds Community College where he played collegiate baseball but more importantly, met his future bride, Dot Pickett of Utica. W.C. subsequently earned a degree in civil engineering from Mississippi State University. He recalled fondly the MSU student life in the congested Old Main Dormitory as well as his good judgment and preparedness demonstrated by his escape of the fiery destruction of Old Main with all of his meager worldly possessions intact. As to that one engineering course which he found so difficult at MSU, W.C. was grateful that the same course at the Ole Miss School of Engineering was not nearly so challenging.
W.C. entered the engineering workforce with the Mississippi State Highway Department in Jackson, then moved to Memphis to work for a large construction company. After a relatively short stint, he returned to Mississippi and formed Alderman Engineering which he built into a long-time successful engineering business in Jackson. W.C. was also a public servant. After several attempts, he unseated a fixture of Hinds County politics and served a very productive term as District 4 Supervisor of Hinds County.
W.C is survived by his wife of fifty-three years, Dot Alderman; daughters Rhonda Floyd of Clinton and Cheryl Thaggard of Meridian; and grandchildren Web Floyd, Anna Floyd, Cooper Thaggard and David Thaggard. He is also survived by brothers Howard Alderman of Picayune, Frankie Alderman of Pace, FL, and Paul Alderman of Vicksburg, as well three sisters, Jean Thomas of Raymond, Gayle Neihaus of Vicksburg and Faye McCulley of Vicksburg. W.C. was preceded in death by his daughter, Norma Fulgham, and his parents, Mamie McCormick and Albert Alderman.
Among many other things, W.C. will be remembered as a loving spouse, treasured father, loving brother, religious mentor, respected engineer, farmer, dedicated public servant, veteran, mentor of two generations of civil engineers, Bulldog, an athlete, quail hunter, fisherman, formidable card and dominoes player, fantastic storyteller, very creative handyman, and the type of father-in-law of which most can only dream. He will forever be "Papa" to four adoring grandchildren who received a vast, loosely supervised (and unscathed to their parents' amazement) education about such things as fishing, hunting, guns, machetes, cows, cards, tractors, cars, music and cooking.
Funeral services will be held at Wright & Ferguson in Clinton on Friday, January 16 at 11:00 a.m. with visitation beginning at 9:00 a.m. Interment will be at Lakewood Memorial Gardens South in Jackson. Pallbearers will be Stacy Thomas, Paul Floyd, Web Floyd, Lee Thaggard, Cooper Thaggard and David Thaggard.
In lieu of flowers, donations in W.C.'s memory may be made to the Morrison Heights Baptist Church Mission Fund, 3000 Hampstead Blvd, Clinton, MS 39056.