American Family Association founder Don Wildmon dies
Dec. 28—TUPELO — Don Wildmon, a north Mississippi preacher who founded and grew the American Family Association into a nationwide radio and communications network, has died.
Wildmon, who stepped down from AFA in 2010, died on Thursday after battling Lewy Body Dementia. He was 85.
Born in Dumas, Wildmon graduated from Ripley High School in 1956 and from Millsaps College in 1960. After a stint in the U.S. Army, Wildmon was ordained as a United Methodist minister in 1964. He was appointed to churches in Iuka, Mathiston, Southaven, Tupelo, and Cartersville, Georgia.
Upset over what he considered unbiblical content — profanity and promiscuity in particular — on network television, Wildmon encouraged his Southaven congregation to turn off their televisions for a week. The effort gained the attention of the national media and the soft-spoken, small-town minister suddenly had a much larger pulpit to preach for grassroots activism.
He founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977 and moved the organization to Tupelo, where the same year he helped found Lee Acres United Methodist Church, now Cornerstone UMC.
NFD quickly grew to 1,400 members and began their first television advertiser boycott in the spring of 1978. The action ended with Sears withdrawing their sponsorship of "Charlie's Angels" and "Three's Company." A similar boycott forced the 7-11 convenience store chain to pull adult magazines from store shelves in 1986.
Wildmon changed the name of his organization to American Family Association in 1988. The American Family Radio network began in 1991 and quickly grew to nearly 200 radio stations. After leading the organization for 25 years, he handed over the AFA's day-to-day operations to his son, Tim, in 2002, but he stayed on to serve as a guiding voice for the numerous ministries.
A rare, mosquito-borne illness forced him to pull back from daily work less than a decade later. In August 2009, the 71-year-old Wildmon was hospitalized in critical condition with St. Louis Encephalitis, which is marked by high fever, disorientation and fatigue. The cognitive and physical recovery took months. The following March, he stepped down from the AFA board of directors.
"As soon as I came to my senses, I decided to pass the torch," Wildmon told the Daily Journal at the time.
At the time, AFA had an annual budget of $20 million, employed 175 people, and reached millions every day through the internet and 192 affiliated radio stations across the country.
He returned to work in June 2010 but in a greatly reduced role.
Over the years, Wildmon was honored with a host of awards for his decades-long battle for morality and decency. In 2013, Vision America renamed its top award honoring pastors' bravery in the public square the Don Wildmon Award.
Wildmon authored 22 books, including a 1989 autobiography titled "The Man the Networks Love to Hate." His passion from traveling abroad led him to guide over 30 tours to the Holy Land and western Europe.
He was married to Lynda Bennett Wildmon for 62 years. Together, they had four children, six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
