{"id":150802,"date":"2025-07-30T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=150802"},"modified":"2025-07-30T16:31:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T21:31:15","slug":"business-school-scholarship-honors-mouse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/business-school-scholarship-honors-mouse\/","title":{"rendered":"Business School Scholarship Honors ‘Mouse’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ole Miss graduate’s wife funds endowment for risk management and insurance majors<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Bill Dabney<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A new scholarship in the University of Mississippi School of Business Administration <\/strong>will provide support to students while honoring the memory of an Ole Miss alumnus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mildred Severance Stevenson<\/strong>, of Ridgeland<\/strong>, has given $100,000 to establish the William Cameron “Mouse” Stevenson Jr. Risk Management and Insurance Scholarship Endowment<\/strong> as a tribute to her husband, who died from lymphoma in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I personally want the money to help the young people who need it,” said Mildred Stevenson, who believes her husband would be “very pleased” to know that the gift is a tribute to his chosen profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s also the profession that brought the couple together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We both worked in insurance at the Plaza Building in Jackson, Mississippi; I was on the second floor, and he was on the fifth,” Stevenson recalled, adding that her boss bought a life insurance policy from Bill Stevenson<\/strong> during an employee contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Bill said to Mr. Hillsman, ‘If I win this contest, I’ll take you to dinner.’ Well, he won and told Mr. Hillsman he was ready to take him out to dinner. But Mr. Hillsman said, ‘Take Mildred.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The couple was married 43 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Stevenson scholarship is open to full-time students majoring in risk management and insurance<\/a>. First preference will be given to Mississippi resident freshmen, with second preference going to transfer students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Liebenberg<\/strong>, the Gwennette P. and Jack W. Robertson Chair of Insurance, professor of finance, and director of the\u00a0Center for Insurance Transformation<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0School of Business Administration<\/a>, expressed gratitude for Mildred Stevenson’s gift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A scholarship is a beautiful way for Mrs. Stevenson to pay tribute to her husband, as the recipients will carry his name forward in perpetuity,” Liebenberg said. “On behalf of the generations of students who will benefit, I’m thankful for her vision and generosity.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Bill ‘Mouse’ Stevenson served as a member of the U.S. Navy Reserve and on active duty in the Mediterranean Sea during the Korean War. Submitted photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stevenson grew up in Corinth<\/strong>, where a fellow Boy Scout gave him the nickname “Mouse” and the moniker stuck. He was even Uncle Mouse to his nephew, nieces, and great-nephews and great-nieces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stevenson was already a member of the US Navy Reserve<\/strong> when he entered the university in 1950 but was called to active duty in 1951. He served aboard the USS Tarawa<\/em> (CV-40) <\/strong>in the Mediterranean Sea during the Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He returned and attended Northeast Mississippi Community College<\/strong> for a year before making his way back to Ole Miss, where he was a member of Sigma Chi<\/strong> fraternity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did he love about Ole Miss? “Dating the girls and going to dances and football games,” his wife said. “And partying.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1956 and began his career in property and casualty insurance, first with the Mississippi Insurance Commission<\/strong> in 1956-60 and then with Employers’ Group<\/strong> before joining Aetna Insurance Co.<\/strong> in Jackson in 1968.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lived in Slidell, Louisiana, from 1971 to 1979 while serving as manager of the New Orleans region for Aetna and returned to Jackson in 1979 to serve as president of W.A. Sullivan General Agent<\/strong> until his retirement in 1999. After returning to Jackson, he served on the board of directors of the Mississippi State Rating Bureau<\/strong> and in all offices of the Pioneer Insurance Club<\/strong>, which is devoted to fostering social relationships among those in the insurance business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“One of his friends observed that Uncle Mouse’s stock in trade is people,” said Steve Ray<\/strong>, Stevenson’s nephew. “It was true. He loved people; he was an excellent listener. He loved conversing with people, knowing their life stories and their kinships and swapping stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Perhaps more than some other fields, the insurance business is all about relationships and he made many of those relationships right there at Ole Miss.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mildred Stevenson attended Millsaps College, Belhaven University, and the University of Southern Mississippi. She then spent most of her career in the insurance business as a bookkeeper, beginning in Gulfport with the Bob Burns Insurance Agency. In 1960, she moved to Jackson and worked until 1972 with Central Insurance Agency, assisting owner Frank J. Reilly Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the couple returned to Jackson from Slidell, she worked alongside her husband and kept the books of W.A. Sullivan General Agent until her retirement in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make a gift to the School of Business Administration, click here<\/a>, or for more information, contact Patrick Salter at psalter@olemiss.edu<\/a> or 662-915-3181.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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