Halbert Owen Woodward (April 8, 1918 – October 2, 2000) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (in case citations, N.D. Tex.) is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in D ...

Education and career

Born in Coleman,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, Woodward received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1940 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from the University of Texas School of Law in 1940. He was a hearing examiner for the Texas Employment Commission from 1940 to 1941. He was a title examiner for the Humble Oil and Refining Company from 1941 to 1942. He was in the

United States 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 ...

as a Lieutenant during

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 ...

, from 1942 to 1945. He was a land and title supervisor for the Humble Oil and Refining Company from 1945 to 1949. He was in private practice in Coleman from 1949 to 1968. He was a member of the Highway Commission of the State of Texas from 1959 to 1968, and Chairman from 1967 to 1968.

Federal judicial service

Woodward was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on April 25, 1968, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Joseph Brannon Dooley. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on June 6, 1968, and received his commission on June 7, 1968. He served as Chief Judge from 1977 to 1986. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on December 30, 1986. Woodward served in that capacity until his death on October 2, 2000, in Brownwood, Texas.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Halbert Owen 1918 births 2000 deaths People from Coleman, Texas McCombs School of Business alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson 20th-century American judges United States Navy officers Military personnel from Texas 20th-century American lawyers