   john shelton wilder (june 3, 1921 â january 1, 2010) was an american politician who was the 48th lieutenant governor of tennessee from 1971 to 2007,tennessee senate, tennessee blue book 2007â2008, page 28 possibly the longest time anyone has served as lieutenant governor or a similar position in the history of the united states.http://www.articlearchives.com/government/elections-politics-politics/738138-1.html he was a tennessee state senator from 1959 to 1961 and again from 1967 to 2009. ==early life and education== wilder was from fayette county, near memphis. he was from an affluent family with extensive agricultural and agribusiness interests. he attended fayette county public schools and received an undergraduate degree from the university of tennessee college of agriculture and a law degree from memphis state university, now the university of memphis. he and his family were known for fairer dealings with black farm employees and tenants than was typical of the area during the segregation era. this fact served him very well upon entering into elective politics at about the time that tennessee blacks in rural areas were first being allowed their constitutional rights to participate in political decisions which had been guaranteed under the tennessee and federal constitutions but previously unenforced. wilder was also a prominent attorney in somerville, the county seat of fayette county. wilder married his wife marcelle in 1941 and served in the u.s. army during world war ii. ==political career== he was a member of the former fayette county quarterly court (now the county commission) for 18 years.richard locker, lambuth institute will salute wilder's works; college to house papers, train students for service, memphis commercial appeal, may 22, 2007 a democrat, he was first elected to the tennessee senate in 1958, 
1921_births 2010_deaths American_military_personnel_of_World_War_II Deaths_from_stroke Lieutenant_Governors_of_Tennessee Tennessee_Democrats Tennessee_State_Senators University_of_Memphis_alumni University_of_Tennessee_alumni