William Charles Sallis, 89, passed away peacefully at home in Jackson, Mississippi on February 5, 2024 following a short illness.
Charles, as he was known to family and friends, was born on August 27, 1934 in Tremont, Mississippi to Myrtle Cody Sallis and William Lazarus Sallis. In his teenage years, his family moved to Greenville, Mississippi, where he met his wife-to-be, Harrylyn Graves. He was a member of Greenville High School's Class of 1952. In 1956, he graduated from Mississippi State University with a Bachelor of Science in Education. An active member of ROTC, Charles was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the
U.S. Army upon graduation. He served on active duty at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and subsequently transferred to the U.S Army Active Reserve while attending the Ph.D. program at the University of Kentucky. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1966 as a Reserve Captain and received his Ph.D. in History from the University of Kentucky in 1967.
In 1957 Charles and Harrylyn were married, and they spent 67 wonderful years together. From 1960 to 1968, Charles was a member of the faculty at Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee. In 1968, Charles joined the history faculty at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi where he was a beloved and respected teacher and colleague. While at Millsaps,
he held two National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships and also served as an instructor in the British Studies Programme at Oxford University. Charles also directed the Millsaps Heritage Program, chaired the History Department, and taught courses on a range of topics, from the origins of Western civilization to the American Civil War and Reconstruction.
Charles was an active member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society, and was instrumental in formulating and implementing the Millsaps Honor Code. Several academic and service awards at Millsaps bear his name.
Charles was co-author of "Mississippi: Conflict and Change", a ninth-grade textbook which provides an unflinching and honest accounting of Mississippi's turbulent history, and gave voice to Mississippi's marginalized minorities. For this reason, the book was somewhat controversial among the local white gentry; however, in 1975 "Mississippi: Conflict and Change" won the
Southern Regional Council's Lillian Smith Award as an outstanding work of Southern history.
Charles is survived by his wife, Harrylyn Graves Sallis; his children Charles Graves Sallis (DeVange Arnold), Victoria Sallis Murrell (Dan Murrell), and David Ewing Sallis (Angela Sallis); his grandchildren Daniel Sallis Murrell (Lena Murrell) and Cody Walton Murrell (Autumn Killop), and three great-grandchildren: Flora Faye Murrell, Lazarus Heath Murrell, and Jules Stewart
Murrell .
The family wishes to gratefully acknowledge the loving care and support provided by AccentCare Hospice and Covenant Caregivers.
A visitation will be held at Fondren Presbyterian Church, 3220 Old Canton Road in Jackson, from 2 to 4 PM. on February 17, 2024
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Stewpot Community Services, Operation Shoestring, and Millsaps College.
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