Conley F. Byrd Sr.

Ex-justice noted for love of people

Former Arkansas Supreme Court Associate Justice Conley F. Byrd Sr. accomplished a lot in his 89 years, but family members said it is the way he interacted with others that is most noteworthy.

"Daddy collected people all his life," said his son Conley F. Byrd Jr. "When he made a friend, he made a long-term friend."

Conley F. Byrd Sr., a resident of Redfield, died Saturday. He served on the Arkansas Supreme Court from 1967 to 1980.

The son recalled going with his father and younger brother to 73 of Arkansas' 75 counties during his father's campaign for the associate justice position. Conley Byrd Jr. said his father wanted to get to know the ordinary people he'd be serving, such as the workers at an automobile lot they visited.

"While his opponent was talking to the people in the office, Daddy would be shaking hands with all of the people working in the bays in the back," Byrd said.

Conley Byrd Jr. said his father's love of people came from his small-town upbringing.

"He never lost that small-town perspective of treating people like family and friends throughout his entire life," Conley Byrd Jr. said.

Conley Byrd Sr. was born in Poughkeepsie, Ark., on Jan. 14, 1925. After graduating as the valedictorian of Evening Shade High School, he became a radar operator in the Navy during World War II.

He later enrolled at Arkansas State Teacher's College in Conway, now the University of Central Arkansas, but transferred to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he received his law degree.

It was in college that he met his wife, Frances Hardin Byrd, to whom he was married for almost 63 years until her death in 2012. The couple had four children -- two sons and two daughters.

After receiving his degree, Conley Byrd Sr. opened a law practice in Evening Shade for a few years before moving to Washington, D.C., to work for the U.S. Labor Department and then to Ohio to work for manufacturer Babcock and Wilcox Company. He returned to his home state to work for the Arkansas Department of Revenue under Gov. Sid McMath.

He later worked as a court reporter for the Arkansas Supreme Court.

In 1954, Byrd was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to the Booneville Tuberculosis Sanatorium, where he was expected to die. But Byrd became one of the first people to receive an experimental antibiotic treatment and was later released from the hospital.

He returned to practicing law in 1960 but left again to become a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Gordon Young. Later, he co-founded the law firm Butler, Greene & Byrd.

Conley Byrd Jr. said that after his father was elected to the state Supreme Court in 1966, he read every case brief that went through the court, not just the ones that were assigned to him.

"Those stacks would be 3 to 4 feet tall," he said. "He dealt with every law case as if it was a law case dealing with somebody he knew well. He wanted to feel that he'd done the best for every citizen."

Metro on 07/21/2014

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