John William "Bill" Graves (born October 17, 1935) is a former associate justice of the

Kentucky Supreme Court The Kentucky Supreme Court was created by a 1975 constitutional amendment and is the state supreme court of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Prior to that the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The Kentucky Court of ...

, serving from 1995 to 2006.

Early life

Graves graduated from St. Mary High School in

Paducah, Kentucky Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

. He then attended the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

on a scholarship. In 1953, his freshman year at Notre Dame, he became part of a group of seven friends called "The Gang" that also included future

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

host

Phil Donahue Phillip John Donahue (born December 21, 1935) is an American media personality, writer, film producer and the creator and host of ''The Phil Donahue Show''. The television program, later known simply as ''Donahue'', was the first talk show forma ...

. Both Graves and Donahue graduated in 1957. Graves then earned a law degree from the

University of Kentucky College of Law The University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law, also known as UK Rosenberg College of Law, is the law school of the University of Kentucky located in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded initially from a law program at Transylvania Universit ...

. He returned to Paducah and opened a law practice. Graves was a judge advocate general in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

, on active duty and as a reserve, for 35 years. He received training at the

Command and General Staff College The United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC or, obsolete, USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military ...

, the

Air War College The Air War College (AWC) is the senior Professional Military Education (PME) school of the U.S. Air Force. A part of the United States Air Force's Air University, AWC emphasizes the employment of air, space, and cyberspace in joint operation ...

, and the

National Defense University The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As ...

. He received the

Armed Forces Reserve Medal The Armed Forces Reserve Medal (AFRM) is a service medal of the United States Armed Forces that has existed since 1950. The medal recognizes service performed by members of the reserve components and is awarded to both officers and enlisted perso ...

, the

Army Commendation Medal The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...

, the

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: *Meritorious Civilian Service Award *Meritorious Service Med ...

, and three

Army Reserve Component Achievement Medal A Reserve Good Conduct Medal refers to any one of the five military conduct awards, four of which are currently issued and one of which was previously issued, by the United States Armed Forces to members of the Reserve and National Guard. The pri ...

s. He retired with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

. Graves married Mary Ann Brievogel, and the couple had two sons, Tony and Kevin.

Legal career

During his time as a lawyer, Graves was also a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and acted as trial commissioner for the Paducah Police Court and the McCracken County Quarterly Court. After practicing law for 20 years, Graves was elected first as a circuit judge and then as a district judge in McCracken County. After Justice Thomas B. Spain announced his retirement from the

in June 1995, Graves announced he would resign his position to seek

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Brereton Jones Brereton Chandler Jones (born June 27, 1939) is an American politician from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1987 to 1991, he served as the 50th lieutenant governor of Kentucky and from 1991 to 1995, he was the state's 58th governor. He now ...

's appointment to fill the vacancy and would be a candidate in the

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

for the balance of Spain's term, which would not expire until January 1999. Jones appointed retired circuit court judge William Fuqua to fill the vacancy, but Fuqua said he would not be a candidate in the special election. Graves was one of six candidates in the special election for the remainder of Spain's term. With 15,496 votes, he finished about 650 votes ahead of his nearest challenger, Charles W. Boteler Jr.; the remaining candidates were Will Shadoan (14,581 votes), Rick Johnson (14,490 votes), Richard Hayes Lewis (12,338 votes) and Christopher "Kit" Hancock (5,013 votes). At the expiration of Spain's unexpired term, Graves announced he would seek re-election. Rick Johnson, a justice of the

Kentucky Court of Appeals The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. The ...

and a challenger from the 1995 special election, also sought the seat. Graves won the rematch for a full, eight-year term by 2,200 votes. In 2004, Graves announced he would not seek another term on the court, but later changed his mind. For the third time in as many elections, Johnson was one of Graves' opponents, along with Circuit Judge

Bill Cunningham Bill Cunningham may refer to: People *Bill Cunningham (rugby union) (1874–1927), New Zealand rugby union player * Bill Cunningham (footballer), Irish international footballer active in the 1890s *Bill Cunningham (infielder) (1886–1946), profe ...

. Graves refused to accept campaign donations, and in March 2006, just ahead of the nonpartisan May

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

, he announced he would withdraw from the race, citing an unwillingness to invest enough time and money to make a competitive race.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, William 1935 births Living people Justices of the Kentucky Supreme Court University of Notre Dame alumni University of Kentucky College of Law alumni People from Paducah, Kentucky