Garwood, Wilmer St. John, 1896-1987

Born in Bastrop on December 15, 1896, Texas Supreme Court Justice Wilmer St. John Garwood (1896-1987), was the son of H.M. Garwood, a partner in the Houston law firm Baker, Botts, Parker, and Garwood, as well as a Bastrop county judge and legislator in the Texas Legislature. Prior to studying law for a year at the University of Texas, Garwood received his baccalaureate degree from Georgetown University in 1917. Shortly after being admitted to the Texas bar, he graduated from Harvard Law School in 1922. Employed by Texaco from 1922 to 1923, Garwood returned to Texas in 1924 to work at his father’s law firm. In 1927, Garwood married Ellen Burdine Clayton (1903-1993), with whom he had two sons. From 1929 to 1933, he was an attorney for the Standard Oil Company in Buenos Aires, Argentina, though coming back to Texas in 1934 to practice law in Houston.

Garwood joined the U.S. Navy during World War II, serving as lieutenant commander in naval intelligence from 1942 to 1945. Following the war, he practiced law in Houston. In 1952, Garwood was appointed associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a position he occupied until 1958. In addition to his term as associate justice, Garwood taught as a visiting law professor at Southern Methodist University and at the University of Texas and served as president of the Texas Civil Judicial Council and of the University of Texas Law School Foundation. Garwood died on January 15, 1987 and is interred in the Texas State Cemetery.

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