Associate Justice, Texas Supreme Court, 1977-1978
Terrell Claude Chadick was born on a farm in Franklin County, near the east Texas town of Winnsboro, on September 21, 1909. He was one of seven children. He attended Burleson Junior College, earned his undergraduate degree at Southern Methodist University, and earned his law degree at Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama.
Chadick practiced law in Winnsboro and Quitman, where he specialized in estate, tax, probate, oil, gas and land law, before beginning a long career of public service. He served as Winnsboro city attorney and Wood County attorney before serving as a Texas state senator from 1941 to 1949, was judge of 115th Judicial District Court from 1949 to 1956, and was chief justice of the Sixth Court of Civil Appeals, Texarkana from 1957 to 1977. He was a member of the Texas Judicial Council for more than twenty years and served as its chairman for three years. He was married and had two daughters, one of whom became an attorney.
Chadick was appointed an associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court by Gov. Dolph Briscoe in 1977 to fill the vacancy created when Tom Reavley resigned. Chadick subsequently campaigned for election to the position, but was defeated in the 1978 Democratic primary by Robert M. Campbell, and left office following the general election.
Following his supreme court service, Chadick joined the trust department of State First National Bank in Texarkana as vice president and trust officer. He died May 23, 2005, at the age of ninety-five, in Columbia, Tennessee.
Chadick Appointed To Supreme Court,
Texas Bar Journal 808 , October 1977.Shirlene Chadick.
Private communication, November 7, 2006.Former Judge dies at 95,
Texarkana Gazette , May 26, 2005.
T.C. Chadick to Join State First of Texarkana, Press Release, The State First National Bank of Texarkana, November 21, 1978.
Texas Supreme Court Historical Society Archives.
