Ackard, John C. 2012-09-10
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: John C. Ackard
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: September 10, 2012
Location:
Interviewer: Robert Weaver
Length: 01:47:50
Abstract
Life, Born in El Paso, Tx, Father named Hunter was born 2/24/1908 in Waco, Father’s middle name is Edmond, His dad was the youngest of 5, Grandfather owned a grocery business, Grandfather died of unknown causes, They went to Dallas on a train, Father was 7 when his grandfather died, Mom bought a house close to Fort Bless and set us boarding house, Father was in high school during the 20’s, Dad and mom were high school sweet hearts, Went to El Paso High school, Father went to El Paso UT, Mother went to Jr. College, Early 30’s father in law owned a lumber mill business, Father ran it, Father started working for Texas Pacific Land Trust, Grandfather died the year after he was born, Mesquite railroad ties a lot bigger then than now, Surveys made a mark on cliff but missed it. Created Boundary dispute, Father started there in about 1942 and quit in about 1960’s, Recession, People would come over to ask to work for food, His mother’s father had a nice house built for them, Raised chickens and vegetables in garden, Moved to Dallas In 1940, Had air raid drills during grade school, Heard the first atomic bomb when he was younger, Life, Went to North Dallas High School, Was in ROTC for 4 years, Went to A&M and the first time he saw it was to go there, First freshman class on campus after WWII, Had 4 years of ROTC in college and graduated a civilian, Father put $100 a month in his account, Also got paid 32.50 a month from air force, Met a girl in Dallas that went to UT, Went to A&M for agriculture department, Switched to general business, Took aptitude test during senior year, Let him be the editor for the battalion (school newspaper), Thought about going to law school, Aptitude test told him to go into journalism or be a judge, Delay of active duty to go to law school, Went to law school at UT, Carol and he met at church in Dallas, Graduated in January of his senior year, Got married 9/3/1955, First child 9/21/1956, In law school 2 years while they were married, She had to finish school if she got married, Had a wife a kid and a cat when he graduated from law school, Offered him a job at $325 but couldn’t take it, Got a job with El Paso Natural gas and got paid $500 a month, Got to take the BAR exam before he graduated, Licensed before he graduated, Wife family all in Kansas, Wanted to be an Oil and Gas Lawyer, First national building named after bank that went broke, It was 10 years in law practice before he had to deal with anything with money, Billy saw big promoter, Would lease big ammonia tanks to farmers then charge or release, Lawyer, In 1978 Bankruptcy act came along, Left in 1986, Had well over 2000 cases, Helped pay the cases in full, Get everything paid off within 3 years for the secured things, Took out creditor vote entirely with the bankruptcy act of 1978, Was travelling once a month to Midland to do bankruptcy work, All the Lawyers from all over Texas would be there, Considered dirty so larger firms didn’t want to do it, Jim Atkins went sour on Thompson, In 1984 tried to do seminar word, Best known for bankruptcy work in El Paso, Now he is just a moderator, Had a class in his name at UT in Bankruptcy, On committee of State Board, Ended up being chairman of consumer bankruptcy course, Applied to be a judge in San Antonio, Had to fill out an extremely long form to go for district judge, There was a vacancy in Lubbock and Tyler that they needed to be filled, Wife told him she was ok to go to Lubbock, His wife had lived in Lubbock for about 10 years when she was younger, She didn’t have good memories because she was sick most of the time, His wife is the only child, Told him to apply for the job, Started going for the Northern district instead of the Western, Elected to the selection committee April 4, 1986, Served 14 years, After he was on bench 5 years sent out survey, Should be allowed to go out once a week and drink whiskey to mellow, Had Lubbock, Amarillo, Abilene and San Angelo in his division, Visited once a month, San Angelo has the oldest court house, Did a naturalization in San Angelo, Had a 15 minute talk about getting budgeting help and things like that, Lubbock wasn’t to large at this time, Never was a very big divorce judge, Never was a state judge, Seminar Farm, Ranch Bankruptcy, In September 1985, He talked on exemptions, His friends did things different, Only speaker they didn’t meet at the airport, Went from 2003-2011, Had excellent speakers and lots of judges, Wife could come with if husbands wanted, After 2011 they decided to go somewhere else, Closed it down because it was not profitable, Paper manufacturing factories, 90 days of bankruptcy called a preference, His son is an Attorney in Houston, Delaware good about letting people appear over telephone, Took over Waco and El Paso for a while, Teaching at UTEP, Friend of his taught law review course for night school, Referred him so he could teach that, Teaching real estate law classes, Had to make a decision to practice law or teach but he chose law, Went to a firm for a while
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