Distinguished Service Award

Holmes Community College will recognize Dr. Sidney Wiggins Bondurant with its Distinguished Service Award during the Homecoming celebration on Oct. 23.

Dr. Bondurant, a native of Forest, is being honored for his outstanding career in medicine, public service, and community involvement. He graduated from Forest High School and continued on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Mississippi State University (1968), where he was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Delta pre-med honor society. He earned his medical degree from Vanderbilt University Medical School (1971).

“The father of my best friend in high school was a physician and he inspired me to follow my career in medicine, so I had made my career choice early on,” Dr. Bondurant said.

On July 1, 1972, Dr. Bondurant completed his medical internship training. Just two days later, on July 3, he put on a Navy uniform after being told by his draft board that he could “volunteer” and choose his branch of service. If he declined, he would be drafted into the Army as a private.

 “I did not volunteer nor desire to go to Vietnam but the experience was one of the most memorable in my life,” Dr. Bondurant said. 

Continuing to look back on his military experience, Dr. Bondurant served as an active-duty medical officer in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1976 and continued his service in the U.S. Naval Reserve until retiring as a lieutenant commander in 1993.

“About 2% of Americans have served in the military, and about half of those have actually been in a combat zone — the brotherhood formed in war is a special thing,” Dr. Bondurant said.

His civic involvement is equally notable. Bondurant served as a Mississippi state representative for Grenada, Yalobusha, and Calhoun counties from 2004 to 2012. He was a reserve deputy sheriff with the Grenada County Sheriff’s Office from 1993 to 2004 and president of the Grenada County Historical Society from 1990 to 2012. He has been a member of the Mississippi Civil War Battlefield Commission since 1991. From 2012 to 2016, he served as Veterans Affairs and Healthcare Policy Adviser to Governor Phil Bryant. Bondurant continues to network professionally by consulting on medically related issues for Gov. Bryant’s business development company, BSS Global LLC.

In 2012, Bondurant established the Bondurant Family Scholarship at Holmes Community College to support local students pursuing higher education.

Bondurant is married to Aida Valeriano Bondurant, and they reside in Madison. They have two children, Morgan, 50, and John, 49, and three grandchildren: Ava, 17; Sidney, 12; and Samuel, 8.

Today, Dr. Bondurant continues to learn and grow professionally by reading medical journals almost every day. He also remains active in research and regularly publishes papers in medical journals.

Homecoming festivities will be held on the Holmes campus in Goodman, beginning at 8:30 a.m., where alumni, students, faculty, and community members will gather to recognize Bondurant’s distinguished career and lifelong commitment to service.