Barbara Culver (later Barbara Culver Clack) (1926–2016) was a justice of the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the supreme court, court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the ...

. Culver was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

in 1926 and graduated from

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

in 1947. She practiced law together in

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States. A small part of Midland is in Martin County. At the 2020 census, Midland's population was 132,524. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas metropolitan ...

with her first husband John Culver for ten years following their graduation from the Southern Methodist University Law School in 1951. She was initially hired to read law for Culver, a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran who was determined to study law despite losing his eyesight during wartime. However, due to the volume of work, she decided to earn a law degree too. In 1962, upon being elected as the Judge of Midland County, she became the first Republican (and female) to hold and oversee a county office in Midland. Due to how the county’s court system was constructed, Culver headed the commissioner’s court and presided over matters that included probate proceedings. On February 1, 1988, Culver became the second female appointed as a justice of the

. She ran for election to keep in her seat in November of that same year, but lost to

Jack Hightower Jack English Hightower (September 6, 1926 – August 3, 2013) was a former Democratic U.S. representative from Texas's 13th congressional district. Early life Born in Memphis, the seat of Hall County in West Texas, Hightower was a United States ...

. Culver remained on the bench until December 7, 1988. It was also in 1988 that Culver married her second husband James H. Clack, a retired judge. The Justice Barbara Culver Juvenile Justice Center, originally called the Culver Youth Home, in Midland, Texas was re-named in her honor after it was expanded. She died on September 12, 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culver, Barbara 1926 births 2016 deaths 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American women lawyers Lawyers from Dallas Southern Methodist University alumni Texas Republicans Justices of the Texas Supreme Court 20th-century American women judges

See also

References