Samuel Burton Wilson III, a retired distinguished service professor of biological sciences for 38 years at Nicholls, died Aug. 13 at his home of an extended illness. The 74-year-old professor, “Burt” to his colleagues and friends, was best known for his dedication to the University through several facets, Alfred Delahaye, distinguished service professor of mass communication, said in an article printed in the Aug. 14 issue of “the Courier.”
Wilson was one of the first Nicholls professors to receive a sea grant for research involving shrimp. In 1973, Wilson helped establish the Faculty Senate and served as president for three years. Wilson received the Marie Fletcher Distinguished Service Award in 1997 for his years of dedication to the University.
Though he will be remembered for his dedication to teaching, his former students remember Wilson for his unusual sense of humor.
Marilyn Kilgen, a former student of Samuel Wilson and current department head of biological sciences, was assigned to work with Wilson in her first semester at Nicholls.
“He loved to tease freshmen,” Kilgen said. “The first day I came, I went up to his lab … there were 200 (vicious) rats in cages against the wall, and he told me that that was going to be my job for the next four years – to take care of those rats.”
The Burt Wilson Honors Award Fund was created at Wilson’s 1998 retirement roast. Wilson also left a legacy of solid teaching with hands-on training according to Kilgen. Kilgen said that her experiences with Wilson left her better prepared for graduate school than many students from larger universities.
Wilson also proved to be an artist. He worked with art professionals in the Thibodaux area in his later years and had a showing of his watercolor paintings in Talbot Hall a few years before his retirement.
In remembering Samuel Wilson, Kilgen said: “There’s no greater satisfaction that you can get as a teacher (than having) spent your whole life doing something, teaching students, and they remember you as a person that made them laugh, that made them cry, that terrified them, that made them determined to show you that they could do it.”
Many former students, colleagues and friends did say thank you and goodbye at Wilson’s funeral service at St. Thomas Aquinas chapel on Aug. 16. Wilson is survived by his wife, Anne Wilson, six children, one of whom is Paul Wilson, assistant professor of history and social sciences at Nicholls, and 12 grandchildren.
