Flight attendant donates $1.8 million to Manning Family Health Fund – Oxford Eagle

Brickell Williamson’s adventurous spirit took her around the world while working as a flight attendant, and her family and friends already knew that and loved her for it.

What they discovered after her death in November at the age of 66 was a caring, generous spirit and a plan to help others make their lives better as they lived out their own daring adventures. was.

After his death, Williamson, a Meridian native who now lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., left $1.8 million from his estate to the Manning Family Fund for a Sanitized Mississippi. She began contributing to her fund in 2013 after the death of her father, Lester F. Williamson Sr., a former district attorney and longtime judge in Meridian. He also played football at Ole Miss in the early 1940s before serving in World War II.

“When Dad passed away and gave us money, he earmarked it for the Manning family,” said Adele Graham, one of four children. “I think she chose it because her daddy admired Archie Manning. Another reason was her love of medical research. She chose it because of her research at Arizona State. I was donating to another charity.”

The donor assistance program is a partnership between the medical center and the Manning family. The foundation supports a variety of activities to support her UMMC mission of education, research, and health care.

“Olivia and I are honored and truly humbled that Ms. Williamson shares our passion for building a healthier Mississippi,” Archie Manning said in a statement this week. Stated. “Her generous gift to the Manning Family Fund will be felt for years to come and is a win for the state of Mississippi.”

Donations to the fund, which often come from all over the country, help address health care issues in Mississippi.

“We are deeply grateful to Ms. Williamson for her selfless contribution to the Manning Foundation and for her support of medical research in general,” said Dr. LouAnn Woodward, Deputy Prime Minister for Health and Dean of Medicine. “Our needs have always been great, and this fund is specifically designed to address those challenges.”

Williamson earned his J.D. from the University of Mississippi in 1982 and moved to Houston with the original intention of becoming a lawyer. My roommate at the time suggested I take a job with a relatively new airline, Southwest Airlines, so I could travel while studying for the bar exam.

In a way, her first flight never actually landed. Her air travel became her job, and she settled in Arizona, where she rode horses, as she often did from an early age, and she became an avid skier and golfer. She first met Williamson when she was in the third grade, and her longtime best friend, Houston resident Lorraine Wegman, said she knew Williamson was a flight attendant with a law degree. He said it was unacceptable.

“She said, ‘I don’t want to do law, I want to do the world!'” Wegman says. “She was never bored. No matter where she went, she was still a Mississippi girl, a true Southerner. She’s also a private person who loved to do things, so it’s only fitting that she wanted to make a donation in her father’s honor.”

Melissa Robinson, UMMC’s Director of Major Endowments and Strategic Planning, said Williamson will receive funding for both medical research and his family’s continued support of the university in 2022 as part of Robinson’s doctoral research project in the Health Administration Doctorate program. He said he made a statement about his charitable donations to Occupations related to the Faculty of Health Sciences.

“Ms. Brickell supported causes that she had a passion for and a deep connection to,” Ms. Robinson said. “She has ties to Ole Miss and the Manning family and wanted to help others live their best active lives. So it made sense for her to donate to the Manning Family Foundation.” She never cared about being recognized or admired. She just wanted to make a difference in any way she could. Her gift to her legacy is one that many Mississippians It will bring about real change.”

In part of the interview with Robinson, Williamson said the Manning Fund “would be a great place to donate some of Dad’s money.” He will be happy with that. ”

“I work as a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines, which means I make a good living,” she said. “But when my parents died, I suddenly had more money. So I thought it was a good thing and started donating.”

As the state’s only academic medical center, UMMC aims to “improve the health of Mississippians and eliminate health disparities through education, research, and patient care.”

For more information, please visit www.umc.edu.