Conley Francis Byrd Sr. (January 14, 1925 – July 19, 2014) was a justice of the

Arkansas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Arkansas is the highest court in the state judiciary of Arkansas. It has ultimate and largely discretionary appellate jurisdiction over all state court cases that involve a point of state law, and original jurisdiction o ...

from 1967 to 1980. Born in

Poughkeepsie, Arkansas Poughkeepsie (Pronounced locally as Pow-keeps-ee) is an unincorporated community in Sharp County, Arkansas, United States. The community is located in south central Sharp County, one mile south of the Strawberry River. The community is on Arkans ...

, Byrd began picking cotton when he was six years old, on his family's farm. After graduating from high school in 1943, he joined the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

, serving in the South Pacific Theatre in

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 ...

, primarily on the destroyer escort USS ''Harold C. Thomas'' (DE-21). Byrd attended

Arkansas State College Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from ...

and

Arkansas State Teachers College The University of Central Arkansas (Central Arkansas or UCA) is a public university in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1907 as the Arkansas State Normal School, the university is one of the oldest in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As the state's only n ...

before receiving his law degree from the

University of Arkansas School of Law The University of Arkansas School of Law is the law school of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, a state university. It has around 445 students enrolled in its Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Master of Law (LL.M) programs and is home to ...

in 1950. Byrd served on the Arkansas Supreme Court for thirteen years, announcing his impending retirement towards the end of 1979 due to health problems."Clinton names two to Supreme Court", ''The Springfield News-Leader'' (December 20, 1979), p. 27.

References

Justices of the Arkansas Supreme Court 1925 births 2014 deaths Arkansas State University alumni University of Arkansas School of Law alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II {{Arkansas-state-judge-stub