Meebo and the Phenomenal Governor William Winter



Governor William Winter,
Marshall Bouldin III, 1983.



Last week, a Meebo friend asked us a question about the portrait of former Governor William Winter hanging in the Hall of Governors at the New Capitol. With a little bit of help from our friends at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, I was on my merry way. They pointed me to an article in The Clarion-Ledger that was written when the governor left office in 1984. I learned all about the former Mississippi governor, his portrait, and his celebrated portraitist, Marshall Bouldin III. Winter's portrait is unusual in that there are six other people portrayed in the picture. They are:  

1. An African-American man who represents that population of the state of Mississippi.
2. Governor Winter actually appears in his portrait twice. He's man in the dark suit, and he's mimicking a pose he liked to strike.
3. The third man from the left in the picture is David Crews. He was Winter's press secretary.
4. Elise Winter, Governor Winter's wife.
5. If you peer closely at the portrait and look between Elise Winter's head and the large column, you will see the head of Herman Glazier poking up. He was Governor Winter's executive assistant.
6. Last but not least is Jason Bouldin, who at seventeen, represented the youth of the state of Mississippi.

Our former governor also has a sense of humor. At the unveiling of his portrait, Governor Winter related the following anecdote:

"You know, I was on my way down here and I heard one man say to another, 'What's that crowd down there for?' And the other one said, 'Why, they're getting ready to hang the governor."

Black, Patti Carr. Art in Mississippi, 1720-1980. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 1998. Print.

Holland, Elizabeth. "Winter's portrait joins predecessors in hall." The Clarion-Ledger, 5 Jan. 1984: B3. Print.