The Mississippi Supreme Court convened on Oct. 13 to honor 94 lawyers who died during the past year. Bar leaders gathered with families and friends of the deceased during the Mississippi Bar Memorial Service in Jackson.
Mississippi Bar President Kelly Sessoms III of Pascagoula said in his eulogy, “We join you in mourning the passing of our colleagues in the profession, as well as to celebrate the life and memory of the loved ones who departed this life during the past year.” They included judges and other public servants. They were partners, friends, mentors and worthy adversaries who zealously advocated for their clients. “And as is said, iron sharpens iron; they made us better lawyers and better human beings.”
They also had a tremendous impact on their communities, serving as church deacons and school volunteers, coaching youth sports, serving as scout leaders or welcoming newcomers to the neighborhood, Sessoms said. “They were civic leaders in big and small ways in their communities, and they became deeply involved in the fabric of the community by investing not only their time, energy and talents, but their entire souls to make the community a better place. Their passing leaves a void that each of us here today should strive to fill,” he said.
Sessoms said, “My challenge today is that we should be inspired by their lives of service to the legal community, and we should step up to fill the gaps that they have left. Let us pay tribute to those that we honor here today by renewing our dedication to the ideals of our profession: integrity, civility, professionalism, civic responsibility, compassion, and excellence.”
Justice David Ishee of Gulfport, in a response on behalf of the Supreme Court, quoted from William Faulkner and the Bible regarding grief, and Ernest Hemingway and Pericles regarding the measure of a life’s accomplishments. He said, “Each of these people, as members of the Bar, distinguished themselves every day in the course of their profession. Attorneys, lawyers, elected officials: they came here every day and they touched someone’s life....Pericles said, ‘What you leave behind is not what is engraved in a stone monument, but it is woven into the lives of others.’ And every day as they carried out their profession, these individuals wove their legacy into the lives of their clients. Whether it was a Fortune 500 company or an individual that was destitute and poor, whether it was a civil matter involving property, a domestic matter involving marriage and child custody, or whether it was a criminal matter involving liberty and even life, they were represented by one of these people.”
Chief Justice Mike Randolph of Hattiesburg, who presided over the memorial service, said that he recognized law school classmates, Vietnam veterans, circuit judges, chancellors and numerous attorneys among those who died. “Each and every person on here is irreplaceable to the Mississippi Bar.”
Mississippi Bar President-Elect Jennie A. Eichelberger of Jackson read the Memorial Resolution on behalf of the Bar before reading each of the 94 names. The Resolution said, in part, “Whereas, we give thanks for the devoted public service of those we honor today, and we acknowledge that without their devotion, and often sacrifice, which they exemplified, the liberty and freedoms we enjoy today would be endangered and our individual lives diminished; and Whereas, in mourning the loss of these members of the bar, we also recognize that their passing will never diminish the profound impact each has made in the lives of their families, their colleagues, their communities, and on this profession....”
Those who were remembered include:
- Michael S. Adelman, Hattiesburg
- Chancellor V. Glenn Alderson, Oxford
- Betty B. Arinder, Jackson
- Jerry Askew, Starkville
- Wiley J. Barbour, Benton
- Chancellor Vicki Roach Barnes, Vicksburg
- Peter H. Barrett, Gulfport
- Eugene Barton, Okolona
- Stephen L. Beach III, Jackson
- William M. Beasley, Jr., Tuscaloosa, AL
- Richard B. Benton, Nashville, TN
- Thomas Q. Brame, Jr., Laurel
- Celeste Brustowicz, New Orleans, LA
- Yancy B. Burns, Jackson
- Richard D. Chotard, Memphis, TN
- David W. Clark, Jackson
- James R. Clark, Clinton
- Circuit Judge Lee S. Coleman, West Point
- Freida G. Collins, Ellisville
- Wade H. Creekmore, Jr., Ridgeland
- Dorothy L. Crocker, Greenville
- Matthew A. Davis, Waynesboro
- Robert C. Dean, Greenville
- James K. Dukes, Jr., Hattiesburg
- G. Kenner Ellis, Jr., Greenville
- Chancellor Timothy E. Ervin, Amory
- Jerry A. Evans, Hattiesburg
- Ray C. Evans, Newton
- Joseph A. Fernald, Jr., Brookhaven
- Richard Flood, Ridgeland
- Thomas P. Givens, Knoxville, TN
- William H. Glover, Jr., Flowood
- Gary S. Goodwin, Columbus
- William D. Harmon, Columbus
- Louise Harrell, Jackson
- Circuit Judge Robert B. Helfrich, Hattiesburg
- Tucker L. Henley, Como
- Michael C. Hester, Biloxi
- Eugene J. Hoffman IV, Pass Christian
- Jena J. Hoover, Winona
- Johnnie R. Hudson, Clinton
- Phillip L. Husband, Washington, D.C.
- Joseph W. Hutchinson III, Charlotte, NC
- Lisa S. Johns, Memphis, TN
- Fifth Circuit Judge E. Grady Jolly, Jr., Jackson
- Michael D. Jonas, Aberdeen
- Robert J. Kelly, Batesville
- Katherine V. Kemp, Jacksonville, FL
- John M. Kinard, Pascagoula
- Crane D. Kipp, Jackson
- Alfred R. Koenenn, Gulfport
- Edward N. Kramer III, Quitman
- Mark S. Larson, Gulfport
- Douglas E. Levanway, Jackson
- William N. Lovelady, Jr., Oxford
- John M. Lusk, Jr., Jackson
- Robert A. Malouf, Ridgeland
- Jolly W. Matthews III, Hattiesburg
- Maurine B. Mattson, Carrollton
- Velia A. Mayer, Madison
- Gerald R. McLemore, Corinth
- Roger K. Meagher, Coppell, TX
- Harold W. Melvin, Ridgeland
- Daniel J. Mulholland, Jackson
- Eric G. Myers, Jr., Jackson
- Reed T. Nunnelee, Ridgeland
- Jeffrey J. Padgett, Batesville
- Thomas Y. Page, Flowood
- Warren P. Palzer, Bohemia, NY
- Jesse C. Pennington, Jackson
- Phillip G. Pitts, Crestview, FL
- Joseph A. Purvis, Jackson
- William B. Raiford III, Oxford
- Alfred H. Rhodes, Jr., Jackson
- Stephen W. Rimmer, Jackson
- John G. Roach, Jr., Madison
- Sandra McAdams Roberson, Gulfport
- Arlin C. Ruthven, Water Valley
- Azki Shah, Clarksdale
- Anthony R. Simon, Jackson
- David P. Sirera, New Orleans, LA
- Pamela D. Slate, Montgomery, AL
- Jesse F. Sparks, Jr., Winter Park, FL
- G. Gayle Tart, Gulfport
- Jacqueline E. Thach, Petal
- Chancellor J. Dewayne Thomas, Jackson
- Stephen L. Thomas, Jackson
- William Thomas, Jr., Germantown, TN
- Robert F. Thompson, Jackson
- Steve C. Thornton, Jackson
- Otis R. Tims, Tupelo
- Thomas H. Walman, McComb
- E. Marcus Wiggs III, Jackson
- Charles T. Yoste, Starkville
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