Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1977-1984
Charles W. Barrow was born September 22, 1921 in Poteet, Texas, and received his early education in the public schools of Atascosa County. His career path would follow that of his father, Hunter Barrow, a district and court of appeals judge. Barrow attended Baylor Law School, where he earned his LL.B. in 1943. He married that year, and he and his wife had four children.
During the Second World War Barrow served as an officer in the U.S. Navy in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters, participated in the Normandy invasion, and received seven battle stars. He served again during the Korean War, and was a captain in the Naval Reserve until retiring in 1976.
Barrow worked as a trial attorney for thirteen years in San Antonio before beginning a twenty-seven year career as a jurist, first as judge of the Forty-fifth District Court. In 1962 Barrow's parents were killed in an automobile accident, and Barrow was appointed to fill his father's unexpired term on the Fourth Court of Civil Appeals at San Antonio. He served in that position until 1977, when he was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by Gov. Dolph Briscoe following the resignation of Don Yarbrough in the face of Yarbrough's indictment.
Barrow was then elected to the position in 1978 and reelected in 1982, serving as an associate justice from 1977 to 1984. He wrote more than 600 opinions during his judicial career and became known as one of the "workingest" judges in Texas. He was awarded Baylor's Distinguished Alumnus award in 1982.
Charles Barrow resigned from the bench in 1984 to become dean of the Baylor University Law School, a post he held until 1991. He returned to San Antonio, where he served part-time as a district judge until retiring in 1996. Charles W. Barrow died June 25, 2006 at the age of eighty-four. He was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Charles Barrow,
Texas Cemetery (visited September 26, 2006).
http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?step=1&pers_id=2587Charles W. Barrow,
Baylor Law: A Rich and Proud Tradition (visited September 26, 2006).
http://law.baylor.edu/History/Deans/barrow.htm
