Wilson Daily Times, 19 January 1942.

William A. Hilliard’s World War II draft registration card, filed in Wilson County in 1942. Rev. Hilliard left Wilson in 1948 to assume the pastorate Saint Paul A.M.E. Zion Church.

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Bishop William Alexander Hilliard (1904-2008).

“Bishop William Alexander Hilliard, 103, retired bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, died March 13. He was reported to be the oldest living bishop in all of Methodism. The funeral was scheduled for March 22 at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Detroit. Born in 1904 in Greenville, Texas, and educated in Kansas City, Mo., Hilliard received his higher education at Western University and Wayne State University. He was married for 71 years to Edra Mae Hilliard, who died in 1998. Called to the ministry in 1922, Hilliard was ordained a deacon in 1924 and an elder in 1927. He was pastor at more than nine different churches before becoming pastor at St. Paul A.M.E. Zion Church in Detroit. He was elected in 1960 as the 67th bishop in the AME Zion Church and retired from the episcopacy in 1980.” [Obituary unattributed, 21 March 2008]

Jet magazine, 20 October 1977.

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• Rev. Hilliard and wife — Rev. William A. Hilliard and wife Edra Hilliard.
• C.L. Darden — Camillus L. Darden.
• Elinor Foster
• Randal and Charles James — brothers Randall R. James Jr. and Charles D. James.
• J.L. Cook — Jerry L. Cooke.
• E.P. Reid — Eleanor P. Reid.