Henry L. Yelverton
Encyclopedia
Henry Lee Yelverton, Jr. (June 5, 1928–July 31, 2009), was a judge
for thirty-two years of the state district and appellate courts, based in Lake Charles
, the seat of Calcasieu Parish
in southwestern Louisiana
.
in Winn Parish
. His father died at the age of twenty-four, some two months before Yelverton’s birth. After 1930, Mrs. Yelverton married J.K. Roberts, and the couple had two children, Shirley Kay Roberts and Glynn David Roberts, Henry’s half-siblings.
Yelverton was subsequently reared on a small cotton
farm in West Carroll Parish
in northeastern Louisiana, where his stepfather was a sharecropper until 1938, when he purchased forty acres of woodland on Macon Ridge near Epps
in the northeastern portion of the state. There the couple built a house and farmed.
Yelverton’s high school
years coincided with World War II
. A teacher encouraged him to study Latin
. He became so fascinated with the subject – Julius Caesar
, Cicero
, Tacitus
, Livy
, and Virgil
-- that in 1949 he received a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Latin from Louisiana State University
at Baton Rouge, as well as a commission in the United States Air Force Reserve. He procured a tuition
scholarship at LSU and was given a minimum wage
job at the LSU Poultry Farm, where he resided during his college years. From 1949-1951, Yelverton taught Latin at the defunct Sewanee Military Academy in Sewanee
, Tennessee
, where he also excelled as a boxing
coach
. In 1951, he obtained a Judah Touro
Fellowship in classical languages at Tulane University
in New Orleans, where he received a Master of Arts
in Latin. He then taught Latin at St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie
in Jefferson Parish
.
1953, Yelverton married the former Lorraine LeJeune of Addis
in West Baton Rouge Parish
. Yelverton was soon called by the Air Force to active duty as an intelligence officer with the Strategic Air Command
. Lorraine joined him in the military, and in 1954, Clark J. Yelverton, the oldest of their seven children, was born at an Air Force installation in Spokane
, Washington.
After his tour of duty with the Air Force ended, the Yelvertons returned to Baton Rouge where he enrolled in 1955 at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center
. There, their second son, Scott R. Yelverton, was born. While in law school, Yelverton worked for State Senator
J.D. DeBlieux
of Baton Rouge, whose reputation of honesty and morality in public life Yelverton admired. In his last year of law school, Yelverton received the Allen Barksdale Award for scholastic accomplishments. Upon graduation in 1957, the Yelvertons relocated to Lake Charles where he was affiliated with the firm, Camp, Palmer, Yelverton & Carwile. One of his first tasks there was to process government disaster loans following Hurricane Audrey
, which particularly devastated neighboring Cameron Parish
.
, Yelverton, to a 14th Judicial District judgeship, a position that he held for eleven years. As a trial judge, Yelverton argued for the acceleration of court business to avoid long judicial delays. At the conclusion of his tenure on the District Court, Yelverton was recognized by the Supreme Court Judicial Administrator for his promptness in deciding cases. He made several court changes, including the hearing of criminal plea bargain
s in open court, rather than in the judge’s chambers. He also instituted a jury pool system to accelerate the selection of jurors. In 1975, the Louisiana Supreme Court
asked Yelverton to help develop a procedure to alleviate the docket of the state Court of Appeal, 1st Circuit in Baton Rouge.
In 1982, Yelverton was elected without opposition to the Court of Appeal, 3rd Circuit, with authority in twenty-one parishes of southwestern and central Louisiana. He remained a circuit judge until he reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy-five. He also sat on numerous occasions on the Louisiana Supreme Court. The day after his retirement, he went to work for the 3rd Circuit as a part-time law clerk, a position from which he retired at the age of eighty because of lung cancer
.
In 1989, Yelverton persuaded his fellow judges to adopt a new docket for the summary disposition of certain cases, a plan which reduced the backlog by a considerable margin. He was a founding member of the Criminal Benchbook Committee which devised the criminal benchbook used in the trial courts. He formerly chaired the Uniform Rules Committee of the Louisiana Appellate Judges Conference. He wrote "Handbook of Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, Procedure," a book for the use of young lawyers on the subjects of how to take an appeal and apply to the court's supervisory jurisdiction.
legal fraternity. He was a member of the American Legion
, the Knights of Columbus
Roman Catholic men’s organization, and the Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Lake Charles, where he was also a trustee and a member of the parish council.
Services were held on August 3, 2009, at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church. Interment was at Consolata Cemetery in Lake Charles. Yelverton was survived by his wife of fifty-six years, Lorraine, all seven children, fifteen grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and two younger half-siblings.
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
for thirty-two years of the state district and appellate courts, based in Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, the seat of Calcasieu Parish
Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
Calcasieu Parish[p] is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Lake Charles. As of 2010, the parish population was 192,768...
in southwestern Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Early years and education
Yelverton was born to Henry Lee Yelverton, Sr. (1904–1928), and the former Iona Mae Gates (1911–1992) near SikesSikes, Louisiana
Sikes is a village in Winn Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 121 at the 2000 census.The village was named after James Warren Sikes, Sr. , a leader in the Winn Parish Baptist church and the first postmaster in the local area....
in Winn Parish
Winn Parish, Louisiana
Winn Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Its seat is Winnfield. In 2000, its population was 16,894.The parish has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water....
. His father died at the age of twenty-four, some two months before Yelverton’s birth. After 1930, Mrs. Yelverton married J.K. Roberts, and the couple had two children, Shirley Kay Roberts and Glynn David Roberts, Henry’s half-siblings.
Yelverton was subsequently reared on a small cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
farm in West Carroll Parish
West Carroll Parish, Louisiana
West Carroll Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Oak Grove and as of 2000, the population was 12,314.-History:...
in northeastern Louisiana, where his stepfather was a sharecropper until 1938, when he purchased forty acres of woodland on Macon Ridge near Epps
Epps, Louisiana
Epps is a village in West Carroll Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,153 at the 2000 census.The Poverty Point National Monument is located nearby, the most complex earthworks site built by a Late Archaic culture....
in the northeastern portion of the state. There the couple built a house and farmed.
Yelverton’s high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
years coincided with World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A teacher encouraged him to study Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. He became so fascinated with the subject – Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
, Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
, Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
, and Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
-- that in 1949 he received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
degree in Latin from Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
at Baton Rouge, as well as a commission in the United States Air Force Reserve. He procured a tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
scholarship at LSU and was given a minimum wage
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...
job at the LSU Poultry Farm, where he resided during his college years. From 1949-1951, Yelverton taught Latin at the defunct Sewanee Military Academy in Sewanee
Sewanee, Tennessee
Sewanee is an unincorporated locality in Franklin County, Tennessee, United States, treated by the U.S. Census as a census-designated place . The population was 2,361 at the 2000 census...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, where he also excelled as a boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
. In 1951, he obtained a Judah Touro
Judah Touro
Judah Touro was an American businessman and philanthropist.-Early life and career:...
Fellowship in classical languages at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
in New Orleans, where he received a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in Latin. He then taught Latin at St. Martin’s Episcopal School in Metairie
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...
in Jefferson Parish
Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Jefferson Parish is a parish in Louisiana, United States that includes most of the suburbs of New Orleans. The seat of parish government is Gretna....
.
Military and legal career
On Valentine's DayValentine's Day
Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496...
1953, Yelverton married the former Lorraine LeJeune of Addis
Addis, Louisiana
Addis is a town in West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,238 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Addis is located at ....
in West Baton Rouge Parish
West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana
West Baton Rouge Parish is one of the sixty-four parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the smallest in total area. The parish seat is Port Allen and as of 2010, the population was 23,788. The parish has a highly-rated school system and is one of the few in Louisiana that has privatized...
. Yelverton was soon called by the Air Force to active duty as an intelligence officer with the Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
. Lorraine joined him in the military, and in 1954, Clark J. Yelverton, the oldest of their seven children, was born at an Air Force installation in Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, Washington.
After his tour of duty with the Air Force ended, the Yelvertons returned to Baton Rouge where he enrolled in 1955 at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Paul M. Hebert Law Center
The Paul M. Hebert Law Center is a law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, part of the Louisiana State University System and located on the main campus of Louisiana State University....
. There, their second son, Scott R. Yelverton, was born. While in law school, Yelverton worked for State Senator
Louisiana State Legislature
The Louisiana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is bicameral body, comprising the lower house, the Louisiana House of Representatives with 105 representatives, and the upper house, the Louisiana Senate with 39 senators...
J.D. DeBlieux
J.D. DeBlieux
Joseph Davis DeBlieux, known as J.D. DeBlieux ,was a Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate who represented East Baton Rouge Parish from 1956 to 1960 and again from 1964 to 1976. DeBlieux is remembered as a crusader for civil rights in Louisiana politics during the latter years of the era...
of Baton Rouge, whose reputation of honesty and morality in public life Yelverton admired. In his last year of law school, Yelverton received the Allen Barksdale Award for scholastic accomplishments. Upon graduation in 1957, the Yelvertons relocated to Lake Charles where he was affiliated with the firm, Camp, Palmer, Yelverton & Carwile. One of his first tasks there was to process government disaster loans following Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey was the first major hurricane of the 1957 Atlantic hurricane season. Audrey was the only storm to reach Category 4 status in June. A powerful hurricane, Audrey caused catastrophic damage across eastern Texas and western Louisiana. It then affected the South Central United States as...
, which particularly devastated neighboring Cameron Parish
Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Cameron Parish is the parish with the most land area in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Cameron and as of 2010, the population was 6,839...
.
District and appellate judge
Yelverton entered public service in 1961 as first assistant district attorney for the 14th Judicial District. For the next decade he was legal counsel for the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury and School Board, and the Airport Authority. In the spring of 1971, then Governor John J. McKeithen appointed his fellow DemocratDemocratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
, Yelverton, to a 14th Judicial District judgeship, a position that he held for eleven years. As a trial judge, Yelverton argued for the acceleration of court business to avoid long judicial delays. At the conclusion of his tenure on the District Court, Yelverton was recognized by the Supreme Court Judicial Administrator for his promptness in deciding cases. He made several court changes, including the hearing of criminal plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
s in open court, rather than in the judge’s chambers. He also instituted a jury pool system to accelerate the selection of jurors. In 1975, the Louisiana Supreme Court
Louisiana Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Louisiana is the highest court and court of last resort in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The modern Supreme Court, composed of seven justices, meets in the French Quarter of New Orleans....
asked Yelverton to help develop a procedure to alleviate the docket of the state Court of Appeal, 1st Circuit in Baton Rouge.
In 1982, Yelverton was elected without opposition to the Court of Appeal, 3rd Circuit, with authority in twenty-one parishes of southwestern and central Louisiana. He remained a circuit judge until he reached the mandatory retirement age of seventy-five. He also sat on numerous occasions on the Louisiana Supreme Court. The day after his retirement, he went to work for the 3rd Circuit as a part-time law clerk, a position from which he retired at the age of eighty because of lung cancer
Lung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
.
In 1989, Yelverton persuaded his fellow judges to adopt a new docket for the summary disposition of certain cases, a plan which reduced the backlog by a considerable margin. He was a founding member of the Criminal Benchbook Committee which devised the criminal benchbook used in the trial courts. He formerly chaired the Uniform Rules Committee of the Louisiana Appellate Judges Conference. He wrote "Handbook of Louisiana Court of Appeal, Third Circuit, Procedure," a book for the use of young lawyers on the subjects of how to take an appeal and apply to the court's supervisory jurisdiction.
Death
Yelverton died in Lake Charles at the age of eight-one. . He held membership in Eta Sigma Phi honorary classical fraternity and Phi Delta PhiPhi Delta Phi
Phi Delta Phi, ΦΔΦ, is the world's second largest legal fraternity. Phi Delta Phi is the second oldest legal organization in continuous existence in the United States and third oldest in North America...
legal fraternity. He was a member of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
, the Knights of Columbus
Knights of Columbus
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in the United States in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus....
Roman Catholic men’s organization, and the Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church in Lake Charles, where he was also a trustee and a member of the parish council.
Services were held on August 3, 2009, at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church. Interment was at Consolata Cemetery in Lake Charles. Yelverton was survived by his wife of fifty-six years, Lorraine, all seven children, fifteen grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and two younger half-siblings.