Lamar Wilson, known to countless Mobilians as "the Peanut Man" for hawking his small paper bags of peanuts under the oaks at the intersection of Old Government and Houston, died Friday in May of 2005. Wilson's death at 86 came several months after he sold his last bag of peanuts. He peddled peanuts at the Loop for years, becoming "an icon in Mobile," according to Deborah Gibson Deguire, who sold him peanuts at A&M Peanut Shop in downtown. He didn't have much, just a picnic basket filled with sacks of peanuts."He'd come about every two weeks and get about 26 pounds from us and he go and sell them at the corner. Sometimes in his younger days, he'd walk down here all the way from the loop usually pulling a red wagon, but in his later days as he didn't quite feel like walking he'd have someone come and pick them up for him," said A&M Peanut Shop Owner Deborah DeGuire.
Sheila Hagler, a photographer who captured Lamar in a memorable photo said, "He was a sweet little man that was trying to find his place in the world and that's all he wanted."
