Former MDAH Board Member Arch Dalrymple Dies

Arch Dalrymple III died March 15 at his home in Amory. Dalrymple had served on the MDAH Board of Trustees for thirty-two years, retiring in 2006. Governor William Winter, president of the board during Dalrymple’s term of service, said of him, “Arch Dalrymple was one of the state’s most knowledgeable and dedicated lay historians. As a longtime member of the board of trustees, he was a forceful advocate for the protection and preservation of historic places. He was also my cherished friend.”

Arch Dalrymple was a lifelong proponent of education and a founding member and a president of the Mississippi School Boards Association. An amateur historian and genealogist, Dalrymple took a particular interest in the history of his hometown of Amory and Monroe County. In 1997, Dalrymple, his wife Deanie, and their daughters established the Dalrymple Family Foundation to offer financial support to nonprofit educational organizations in northeast Mississippi. Dalrymple was a longtime member of the Mississippi Historical Society, serving as president in 1976 and holding many other leadership positions.

Arch Dalrymple was born in Amory in 1924. He graduated from Amory High School and attended Amherst College and Cornell University before graduating from the University of Mississippi with a degree in history. His business interests included timber, cattle, real estate, and oil and gas. As a young man he was the president and principal partner of Dalrymple Equipment Company, a distributor of heavy construction machinery in Mississippi and West Tennessee, and he later served for years on the Board of Directors of Trustmark National Bank in Jackson. He served in Washington, D.C., as a consultant to the U.S. State Department with the 21st Foreign Service Officer Selection Board. He was a director of the Mississippi Economic Council.

Memorial contributions may be sent to the Adine Lampton Wallace Endowment for Mississippi History Now, Mississippi Historical Society, P.O. Box 571, Jackson, MS 39205-0571.

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