Changes

|religion=[[United Methodist]]

|religion=[[United Methodist]]

|spouse=Mary Louise "Totty" Terney Merideth (divorced)

|spouse=Mary Louise "Totty" Terney Merideth (divorced)

(2)Linda Jeffcoat Merideth

(2) Linda Jeffcoat Merideth

}}

}}

==Background==

==Background==

Merideth was born at home in Swiftwater in Washington County, Mississippi, to Horace Lavelle "Red" Merideth (1911-1986), a native of Doddsville in Sunflower County, Mississippi, and the former Cassel Elizabeth Merideth, subsequently after the parent's divorced, Cassel Pitman (1915-1994). He was reared in James, Mississippi, at which he worked as a boy in father's country store. He graduated in 1948 from Riverside Consolidated High School in Washington County and in 1952  received his undergraduate degree in [[accounting]] from [[Mississippi State University]] in Starkville. He was commissioned a second lieutenant under the ROTC program in the [[United States Air Force]]. He served in the [[Korean War]] and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the [[United Nations]] Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. He was stationed at Itazuke Air Force Base near Fukuoka, [[Japan]], when his older son, David, was born in 1955. After his military service, Merideth moved in 1956 with his family to Oxford, Mississippi, to enroll at the [[University of Mississippi]] School of Law. He graduated in 1958 and opened a solo law practice in Greenville and later formed a partnership with attorney James Robertshaw.<ref name=findagrave/>

Merideth was born at home in Swiftwater in Washington County, Mississippi, to Horace Lavelle "Red" Merideth (1911-1986), a native of Doddsville in Sunflower County, Mississippi, and the former Cassel Elizabeth Merideth, subsequently after the parent's divorced, Cassel Pitman (1915-1994). He was reared in James, Mississippi, at which he worked as a boy in father's country store. He graduated in 1948 from Riverside Consolidated High School in Washington County and in 1952  received his undergraduate degree in [[accounting]] from Mississippi State University in Starkville. He was commissioned a second lieutenant under the ROTC program in the [[United States Air Force]]. He served in the [[Korean War]] and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the [[United Nations]] Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal. He was stationed at Itazuke Air Force Base near Fukuoka, [[Japan]], when his older son, David, was born in 1955. After his military service, Merideth moved in 1956 with his family to Oxford, Mississippi, to enroll at the [[University of Mississippi]] School of Law. He graduated in 1958 and opened a solo law practice in Greenville and later formed a partnership with attorney James Robertshaw.<ref name=findagrave/>

==Political career==

==Political career==

At the age of twenty-eight in 1959, Merideth defeated an incumbent legislator in [[primary]] race to represent Washington County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Re-elected seven times, he remained in the House until his retirement in 1992. In 1962, he raised a point of order which brought forth a walkout by a small group of legislators who protested House Speaker Walter Sillers' invitation to [[United States Army]] [[General]] Edwin Anderson Walker, a staunch segregationist, to speak on the state House floor.<ref name=findagrave/>

At the age of twenty-eight in 1959, Merideth defeated an incumbent legislator in [[primary]] race to represent Washington County in the Mississippi House of Representatives. Re-elected seven times, he remained in the House until his retirement in 1992. In 1962, he raised a point of order which brought forth a walkout by a small group of legislators who protested House Speaker Walter Sillers' invitation to [[United States Army]] [[General]] Edwin Anderson Walker (1909-1993), a staunch segregationist, to speak on the state House floor.<ref name=findagrave/>

In 1990, lawmakers filed a bill to legalize gambling on boats cruising the [[Mississippi River]]. As a subcommittee chairman, Merideth removed a few words from the proposed legislation to allow gambling on docked riverboats. Democratic state Senator Bob Dearing of Natchez, one of the sponsors of the riverboat bill recalled that the wording was altered because a district attorney in [[Arkansas]] threatened to arrest people on board the riverboats for illegal gambling once the boats sailed into Arkansas waters. In time dockside gambling developed in the 1990s into a tourist attraction along the river and the Gulf Coast, first in riverboats and later in [[hotel]]s. Former state Representative Danny Guice, Jr., of Ocean Springs, a Democrat-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]], recalled the "dire times. We needed some kind of spark to re-ignite the tourism down here, and that's exactly what happened."<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Ex-lawmaker-who-helped-usher-in-Mississippi-12180040.php|title=Ex-lawmaker who helped usher in Mississippi casinos dies|publisher=''Laredo (Texas) Morning Times''|date=September 7, 2017|accessdate=September 11, 2017}}</ref>

In 1990, lawmakers filed a bill to legalize gambling on boats cruising the [[Mississippi River]]. As a subcommittee chairman, Merideth removed a few words from the proposed legislation to allow gambling on docked riverboats. Democratic state Senator Bob Dearing of Natchez, one of the sponsors of the riverboat bill recalled that the wording was altered because a district attorney in [[Arkansas]] threatened to arrest people on board the riverboats for illegal gambling once the boats sailed into Arkansas waters. In time dockside gambling developed in the 1990s into a tourist attraction along the river and the Gulf Coast, first in riverboats and later in [[hotel]]s. Former state Representative Danny Guice, Jr., of Ocean Springs, a Democrat-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]], recalled the "dire times. We needed some kind of spark to re-ignite the tourism down here, and that's exactly what happened."<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.lmtonline.com/news/article/Ex-lawmaker-who-helped-usher-in-Mississippi-12180040.php|title=Ex-lawmaker who helped usher in Mississippi casinos dies|publisher=''Laredo (Texas) Morning Times''|date=September 7, 2017|accessdate=September 11, 2017}}</ref>