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MEMORIAL ARTICLE
Published Assembly Jul '88
Rufus Sanders Garrett, Jr. No.15330 Class of 1946
Died 26 August 1986 in Fort Worth, Texas, aged 62 years.
Interment: Greenwood Memorial Park, Fort Worth, Texas |
Rufus Sanders Garrett, Jr. was born in Fort Worth,
Texas, 22 July 1924. He was the son of Rufus Sanders Garrett
and Ona Winters Garrett and attended public schools in Fort Worth.
Upon graduation from R. L. Paschal High School, he attended Texas
Christian University in Fort Worth and the University of Texas
at Austin before entering West Point in 1943.
Upon graduation from West Point in June 1946, he was commissioned
a second lieutenant in the Chemical Corps and was stationed at
Edgewood Arsenal, Maryland and Fort Benning, Georgia. He was
stationed for a short time at Fort Lewis, Washington before being
sent to Fort Churchill, Canada, located on Hudson Bay. Here he
served as a member of an Arctic test team from 1947-48.
While in the military, he began to prepare himself for a legal
career, and in October of 1948 he was sent to Washington, DC
and served as the post judge advocate while attending night classes
at George Washington University Law School. Following his resignation
from the Army in 1949, he returned to Texas and entered Southern
Methodist University Law School where he was associate editor
of the Southwestern Law Journal. He received the highest grade
on the 1950 Bar examination and, upon being admitted to the Bar,
began his practice with his father in the firm of Garrett and
Garrett. He was active in the practice of law until shortly before
his death.
Rufus was generous with his time both to his community and to
his profession, and his roster of activities were many and varied,
as evidenced by his past service as a member of the Board of
Trustees, Association of Graduates of the US Military Academy
in 1971; past President of the Tarrant County Bar Association
in 1973; a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Association;
and a director of the State Bar of Texas from 1990 through 1983.
He served on many civic and local hoards. He was
a founding trustee of the Fort Worth Country Day School on whose
board he served for eleven years, and was a founder of the North
Texas Chapter of the West Point Society. He also served on the
board of the Fort Worth Public Library, Fort Worth Children's
Hospital, Fort Worth YMCA, Moncriet Radiation Center, St. Joseph
Hospital Development Foundation and the Tarrant County Chapter
of the American Cancer Society.
He was a member and past director of the Texas
Association of Defense Counsel, a member of the American Bar
Association, the Bar Association of the Fifth Circuit and the
International Bar Association
Rufus was held in high esteem in the legal profession
and was noted for his honesty, integrity and high ethical standards.
He became known among his colleagues as a meticulous and tenacious
trial lawyer as well as a successful appellate lawyer which led
to his achieving a national reputation in bankruptcy law.
His polite, congenial and warm-hearted nature and
humorous conversation endeared him to his friends, family and
associates. He was courteous to all and at the same time vehemently
defended not only his but the rights of others. He was universally
admired and respected by all privileged to know him, and he always
maintained his posture as a true gentleman.
He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Mary Jo
Halsell Garrett; two daughters, Melissa Garrett Thompson (Mrs.
George Thompson) and Josephine Garrett (Mrs. Kent Altaras) who
was his law partner in the firm of Garrett & Garrett; and
two grandchildren, Melissa Estelle Altaras and Matthew Garrett
Altaras.
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