Oral history with Mr. Pascal Nevin Sledge

              Oral history with Mr. Pascal Nevin Sledge
F341.5 . M57 vol. 748, pt. 2
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Biography
Mr. Pascal Nevin Sledge was born February 6, 1921, in the Alva Community east of Duck Hill, Mississippi. He was the sixth of seven children born to Pascal Earl Sledge and Annie Ingram Sledge. He attended Cleveland High School, Culver Military Academy, Delta State University, and General Motors' Chevrolet Dealer Institute.
During World War II, he was a pilot in the Marine Corps for three and a half years, serving in such places as Okinawa, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Iniwetok Atoll, and Tenian. Upon his return to his home in Mississippi, he operated and came to own a Chevrolet dealership from 1954 to 1988, an Oldsmobile dealership from 1958 to 1988, and a Chrysler dealership from 1979 to 1988. He was one of the organizers of the First National Bank of Bolivar County and served on the Board of Directors for eighteen years. From 1954 to 1977 he served on the Cleveland City Board of Aldermen, and he was the vice mayor for eight years. He was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1983, and he served from 1984 to 1993.
Mr. Sledge's community service includes being past president of the Cleveland Exchange Club, past president of the Cleveland- Bolivar County Chamber of Commerce, past chair of the Cleveland- Bolivar County Industrial Development Foundation, past president of the Mississippi Automobile Dealers Association, past chair of the Southern Half of the U. S. Chevrolet Dealers Council, serving on the Oldsmobile National Dealer Council, and serving on the Chevrolet National Dealer Council. His awards include Kossman Bolivar County Man of the Year Award in 1972, Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award in 1981, Delta State University Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 1987, Omicron Delta Kappa Outstanding Achievement Award at Delta State University in 1987, and king of the Junior Auxiliary Ball in 1993.
Mr. Sledge was married to his high school sweetheart, Brenda Wilson Sledge for fifty- eight years until she passed away on August 24, 2001. He has four children and eight grandchildren, and he is an elder of the First Presbyterian Church in Cleveland, Mississippi.
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