Tag: Judge Hunt

“When you are my age you will understand.”

Evinrude Motor

Good stories have clear characterization, character being defines as desire, drive, ability, compassion and perspective all of which change over a lifetime.  Here’s a simple example of those changes from my own family history. I’ve been thinking about this lately as I ponder my upcoming knee replacement.

Philo Howard, my mother’s brother, was  a frank, funny, energetic man. At sixteen, he ran away to Canada from his home in Houston. There, he lied about his age and joined the Canadian Royal Air Force to fight in WWII, which the US had not yet entered. His whereabouts were determined by my dad’s mother who read an article in the Houston paper listing Texas volunteers. Uncle Philo was returned to the bosom of his family forthwith. Several years later he enlisted in  the American Air Corps and flew P-51s over Europe.

My family had a party in Houston in 2003 to celebrate what would have been my late father’s 100th birthday. My uncle, who recently had his pacemaker replaced, couldn’t make the party. He emailed me this tribute to be read at the celebration. My dad, Judge Wilmer Hunt, was nearly twenty-years his senior. To his great sorrow he was denied military service due to his age,  very flat feet and a knee injured by my mother. (That’s another story.) The setting of Philo’s account is the rich farmland of eastern Texas in the 50’s. By prison, my uncle was referring to a pea farm, as they were called back then. They were minimum security prisons where inmates grew food for the prison system.

Wilmer was my favorite, because he liked to fish and many times took me along. One time he took me to Kemah and we got in a small skiff and towed [it] out to the middle of the bay for four hours. I was always a little hyper, and I almost jumped out of the boat after about an hour. Wilmer seeing this, started telling me stories. As I remember, this calmed me down a bit and I caught some fish.

Being a Judge he had access to a prison and one near Brazoria had a great fishing pond. He and I went there about three times. It seemed I always ended up having  to carry a small Outboard motor from the parking lot to the lake each time. I asked him why, and he said “when you are my age you will understand.”

Wilmer Hunt attorney for the King Ranch – 1936

JudgeSmiling1950s

The following was scanned from a newspaper. The unedited result is what the computer determined the article said.

October 20, 1939
Lubbock Morning Avalanche from Lubbock, Texas · Page 22

HOUSTON, Oct. 18 — A suit to cancel a 20-year lease held by the Humble Oil and Refining company on 1,250,000 acres of the famous King ranch In Southwest Texas went on trial before Federal Judge T. M. Kennerly in Houston today. The plaintiffs are Edwin K. Atwood and Miss Alice Atwood of Chicago, grandchildren of the late Captain Richard King, founder of the ranch. The defendants are Alice O. K. Kleberg, et al, Including the Humble Oil & Refining company. Filed Five Yean Ajo The suit originally was filed some five years ago, court attaches said, at Corpus Christ!. The case Is being heard in Houston for the convenience of parties concerned. Taking of written evidence over a period of several months for use in. the case was completed about a month ago before Wilmer Hunt of Houston, appointed by federal court as master in chancery. Attorneys for the plaintiff argued today that the Humble company’s lease should be cancelled by reason of a mineral trust executed In 1919 by Mrs. Henrietta King, Captain King’s widow, in favor of Robert Kleberg. Claim Leave Void The plaintiffs contended this mineral trust severed minerals from the estate, and therefore a lease made September 26, 1933 to the Humble company by trustees of the King estate under Mrs. King’s will was void. The plaintiffs contended the trustees under the will had no minerals to transfer, by reason of the trust. Trustees under the will, according to records in the course, were Robert Kleberg, sr., Robert Kleberg, jr., Richard King, Caesar Kleberg, Richard Miflin Kleberg, Richard King, Jr., John D. Finnegan. The plaintiffs also contended the lease should have borne their signatures. Was For Specific Tim* On the other hand, attorneys for the plaintiff argued before Judge Kennerly that the mineral trust was for a specific time and purpose, and that in some later land transfers, Mrs. King did not except minerals from the land, while in others she reserved certain minerals. Defense attorneys said this showed It was Mrs. King’s feelings In the matter that the lands should go with the minerals and that the minerals should go with the land; that they were not separate. The defense said the Humble company had loaned the King estate $3,500,000, and the company felt It should have some protection.

 

Source: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/13630886/

See also Jeana’s photograph from a dear hunt at the King Ranch:

https://allyall.org/?p=473

The Judge’s Birthday 08/25/1903

The Judge

This photo was taken at Gittings in Houston around 1966. When Dad grew his beard, his sister Lennie called him “The Hippie Judge.” People sang Flip Wilson’s song “Here comes the judge” when he walked into a room. He enjoyed that very much, as I recall. Dad was one of those rare people who could pivot between dignity and hilarity in the blink of an eye.  He and I played pool at Le Cue, where we once watched Minnesota Fats give an exhibition. This was soon after “The Hustler” movie. He always beat me in the end. He said I couldn’t beat. Honestly, I didn’t want to.  He won with such a flourish.  He was a Cyrano when he beat people at cards. He had a regular Monday night poker game with other lawyers and judges. He’d always ask me, “What’s the name of the game?” I’d say, “gin,” and he’d fan his cards out on the table. It was a wonderful ritual.

As an aside, when I looked up Le Que, it seems that cue balls weren’t the only things that changed hands there:

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=8Zr2MS2QkcMC&pg=PA203&lpg=PA203&dq=Houston+Le+Cue+pool&source=bl&ots=-Ysm8ge8qD&sig=Y4BKyUVMdLxy3vEYMEjD1R0YwZM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBmoVChMIz5WtkePExwIVEJuICh14sQtv#v=onepage&q=Houston%20Le%20Cue%20pool&f=false

 

A Story About Our Dear Robin McCorquodale from Heather Wren Welder

[I] remember how whenever Robin began to speak, we would all listen but with our mouths open in rapt & adoring attention ( my mother one time had to tell me to close my mouth while staring adoringly at Robin). A year or so ago, my Beeville book club invited Robin to come to visit and talk about her books, how she came up with ideas, where & who were her muses and etc. My living room was filled and crowded and as Robin spoke, oh my gosh, I realized, everyone in the room was staring at Robin, spellbound and…with their mouths wide open, in absolute rapture!!

Later when I laughed and told Robin & Bill, Robin, in characteristic fey amazement, played her, as we all can attest, straight man role, unbelieving what I had said. I can hear her now, ” oh Heather!” I have received so many calls from my friends in Bville who have heard that I had lost my dearly beloved Robin. She touched so many lives with her sweetness and zest.