L.T. Simes II grew up in the impoverished Arkansas Delta, the son of a disabled man who believed his children could do anything.
Simes took that message to heart, his family and friends said. He excelled in college and law school, pushed for civil rights as a lawyer in West Helena and became the first black man to be elected as a circuit judge in Phillips County.
On Saturday, the judge died from complications of leukemia at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. He was 65.
"L.T. was a born leader," said his brother Alvin Simes, a Forrest City attorney.
"He loved being a judge. That was his life. He made it clear to me that he wanted to make sure that anyone who came before him got a fair trial."
In addition to being a judge, L.T. Simes was a devout Christian, a bass guitar player and an accomplished gospel singer.
Simes also co-owned Delta Force 3 radio, KCLT-FM, 104.9, the first black-owned radio station in the Arkansas Delta, where he taught Bible lessons on-air for more than 25 years.
"He was a man of incredible faith. He took a lot of pride in his radio ministry," his friend Woodson Walker said.
Walker said Simes always put his faith first, followed closely by his wife, Edelma Glover Simes, and his three children, L.T. Simes III, Aurora Simes Provost and Martin E. Simes.
But it was his passion for justice that Walker said he will most remember about his friend.
"It seems like his life has been one of continuous fight for justice for others as well as dignity for himself," Walker said.
Simes was first elected in 1996 as circuit judge in the 1st Judicial Circuit.
He served in that position, presiding over cases in Cross, Lee, Monroe, Phillips, St. Francis and Woodruff counties, until 2009 when he was suspended from the bench for the remainder of his term by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The suspension stemmed from a complaint about Simes handling the legal affairs of an estate while serving as a judge, which is a violation of judicial rules.
Simes was unopposed for re-election in 2010 and resumed his post in January 2011.
In 2011, the Supreme Court reprimanded Simes over allegations of improper sanctions involving litigation between a Helena-West Helena mayor and the City Council that related to Police Department operations.
In both cases, Simes denied any impropriety.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen, who knew Simes for almost 40 years, said he and Simes were "soul mates on this issue of justice for people who live with their backs against the wall."
"I have always respected him, and I have always been proud of the fact that he refused to be pushed around by the forces of orthodoxy and refused to allow adversity to cause him to become either bitter or small-minded," Griffen said.
"He remained to the very end a gracious, generous and cordial fellow. In that regard, [he's] a wonderful example of what I consider the highest and best characteristics of a good judge," Griffen added.
Born on Sept. 9, 1950, Simes grew up in rural Phillips County near Poplar Grove, the second-oldest of seven children.
Simes attended Eliza Miller High School and earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ouachita Baptist University.
He earned his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, where he also met his wife.
Simes returned to West Helena in the mid-1970s, where he practiced law.
Alvin Simes said his brother was motivated by President Bill Clinton, who taught Simes constitutional law as a University of Arkansas professor, to get involved in state and local politics.
As governor in the 1970s, Clinton appointed Simes to the Arkansas Soil and Water Commission. Simes later became chairman.
Alvin Simes said his brother was proud of his law career and considered his involvement in the Perkins v. City of West Helena case to be his greatest legal achievement.
The case went to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in 1982 that the city's at-large system of electing council members was unconstitutional.
The court called the system "discriminatory" and said it limited "the opportunity of blacks to participate meaningfully or effectively in the political process."
The ruling required the city to institute ward voting.
After the Perkins case, L.T. Simes was elected to the West Helena City Council along with three other black men. Simes served on the council for 10 years.
"It became the landmark case that started the ward voting in the Delta areas. ... That led to a balance on the city council," Alvin Simes said.
In an interview with Arkansas Life magazine earlier this year, L.T. Simes said he was proud of his involvement in the Perkins case but that he felt his time in Helena-West Helena had been spent fighting an "upward struggle."
He said he felt like hope was always "just around the corner" for the community, and he admitted there was a chance he wouldn't see his hometown thrive in his lifetime.
"My prayer would be that the communities and the races would somehow, some way understand that together we stand and divided we fall," Simes told the magazine.
"That means that people have to give up their personal egos and be more community-thinking than individual, because no individual can do it. My hope would be one day that that would happen."
On Monday, West Memphis attorney Ron Wilson, who knew Simes for more than 40 years, said that fighting for equality and justice would be his friend's legacy.
"He was a fighter. He was someone who fought for justice, someone who truly believed in making life better for a lot of people in this state, and certainly, he did it in his career," Wilson said.
Metro on 10/13/2015