Good Time Charlie Wilson Dead at 76

LUFKIN, TX  – Former longtime East Texas congressman Charlie Wilson has died. Staff at Lufkin Memorial Hospital confirmed the report. He was 76. According to a Memorial Hospital press release, Wilson died after suffering from cardio pulmonary arrest.

He was pronounced dead at 12:16 p.m. in the hospital’s emergency room. Wilson served in the 2nd U.S. Congressional District from 1972-1996 and was known as the “Liberal from Lufkin.”

A book about his efforts in the U.S.’s covert war against Russia in Afghanistan was chronicled in the book, “Charlie Wilson’s War” which was later made into a movie. Tom Hanks played the part of Wilson.

Wilson considered his greatest accomplishments as congressman to be the creation of the VA Hospital in Lufkin and the establishment of the Big Thicket National Preserve. The Lufkin VA clinic was renamed after Wilson in 2005. Wilson is survived by his wife, Barbara, who he married in 1999. He was born in Trinity in 1933.

Wilson received a heart transplant in September of 2007 in a Houston hospital. During his congressional tenure, he was known as “Goodtime Charlie” for partying antics.

In 1980, Wilson was accused of snorting cocaine, but the investigation was dropped due to lack of evidence.

In the book, author George Crile described an incident when a Trinity city councilman purposefully poisoned his dog and killed him, when Wilson was 13. Wilson described how he used his hardship driver’s license to round up voters from the poor neighborhoods to vote in the councilman’s election. Wilson said he told the voters as they got out of the car that he did not want to tell them which way to vote, but the councilman, Charles Hazard, killed his dog.

Wilson said he drove 96 voters to the polls, and Hazard lost his reelection by 13 votes. Wilson described that as the day he fell in love with America. He was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in 1956 and served in the Navy from 1956 to 1960.

“Charlie loved this nation and had deep respect and gratitude for the men and women who defended her; he was a force for veterans his entire career. Throughout his life, this was evident in his thoughts, words, and deeds,” stated Anthony Zollo, M.D., Charles Wilson VA Outpatient Clinic director, in a press release. “The VA is a richer organization because of Mr. Wilson. He will be deeply missed.”