Judge Elvis Stahr
Dies At Hickman
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 25– First District Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr Sr., died at 10 a.m. Wednesday at his home here. He was 77.
Death came quietly as he prepared to retire January 1, after 18 years on the bench in the First District–Graves and Fulton counties.
He had been under treatment recently for a bronchial condition. His heart failed. His wife, Mrs. Mary McDaniel Stahr, was with him when he died.
Judge Stahr announced his retirement earlier this year after he was hospitalized several times. He will be succeeded by Wood C. Tipton, Hickman, who won election in November.
After receiving a law degree from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn., Stahr began practicing law here in 1911.
A Fulton County native, Judge Stahr was County attorney, County judge, and State senator before his election as circuit judge in 1945.
He was known throughout Kentucky as a jurist, but he was often referred to as "Elvis Stahr's father."
Judge Stahr's only child, Elvis J. Stahr , jr., is president of Indiana University. He formerly was dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, chancellor of the University of West Virginia, and secretary of the Army.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will of the multimillionaire banker Ed Gardner
Ed Gardner, a case still being disputed in court.
He also was on the bench when The Hickman Courier challenged a County judge's decision to close his records to the press.
In nullifying the decision, Stahr commented, "Everybody knows a newspaper has the right to look at court records and publish them.
On November 20, a group of attorneys of the First and Second judicial districts, paid tribute to Judge Stahr at a testimonial dinner at South Fulton, Tenn. He was presented a wrist watch on which was inscribed "To Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. for distinguished service to bench and bar of the First Judicial District."
Lawyers at the dinner spoke of Judges Stahr as:
"One of Kentucky's greatest citizens and a judge who has been uniformly courteous, kind and understanding.
A judge who has always been able to see that every litigant had his day in court"
"A judge with an innate sense of justice that can't be equaled"
He also is survived by a brother, Charles F. Stahr, Hickman.
The body is at Barrett Funeral Home here.
Louisville Courier–Journal
Louisville, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963
Funeral Friday
For E. J. Stahr,
Noted Jurist
By DON PEPPER, Sun-Democrat Staff Writer
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 26 – Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr, one of Kentucky's most colorful jurists, died Christmas morning at his home here, just a week before he was to retire.
Though the 77-year old judge of the First Judicial District had been in poor health, his death was unexpected. It apparently came as the result of a heart attack. He suffered a heart attack once before, in 1960.
On Christmas morning Judge Stahr remained in bed, and Mrs. Stahr gave him his breakfast there. About 10 a.m. she went to the front porch to see if the paper had come. she returned to the bedroom and remarked that the paper had come. Judge Stahr didn't answer, and she discovered that he was dead.
One Day of Court
Judge Stahr was to have completed his third and last term as judge Dec. 31. That would have been Friday morning in Mayfield, where he was to hear motions and sign his final orders of Graves Circuit Court. His last day on the bench was on Dec. 17 at Mayfield, where he heard attorney' motions and conducted a hearing. He attended a Christmas party at the Fulton County courthouse on Monday.
He was the father of one of the most brilliant men Western Kentucky has ever produced, Elvis J. Stahr Jr., former secretary of the Army and now president of Indiana University.
Proud of 'Day'
One of his proudest days was July 28, 1961, when Hickman observed "Elvis Stahr Day" in honor of his son, who had been named secretary of the Army by President Kennedy.
Judge Stahr's career in public life spanned almost exactly a half-century, starting within two years after his graduation from law school.
He was elected county judge of his native Fulton County in 1913 and served two terms. He served another eight years as county attorney and was elected to the city council. In 1939 he was elected to the state Senate, serving one four-year term.
Two years later he sought and won his first of three consecutive terms as circuit judge.
As a young man, county judge of Fulton County, Judge Stahr managed Alben W. Barkley's first campaign for Congress, thus helping launch one of the most remarkable political careers in American history. He and Barkley remained friends until Barkley's death.
He was widely know as a humorist. He enjoyed swapping stories with lawyers and judges during court recesses, and he liked to brighten a trial with humorous observations from the bench.
Informal Style
Informality was the style in his courtroom. He called himself a "country judge" and he dislike pretense and stuffiness.
When the Saturday Evening Post several years ago sent a writer to Kentucky to interview the state's famous raconteurs, Judge Stahr was one of those he talked with and quoted in the magazine article that resulted.
His last term on the bench was marked by some of the most difficult cases to be presented to any circuit judge.
During almost the whole of the last term he had to deal with the important pressure-packed litigation growing out of the dispute over the will of the late Ed Gardner in Mayfield.
Important Case
He had to decide a case of vital statewide importance when ousted Graves County School Supt. James B. Deweese sued the Board of Education for his salary. The case resulted in historic Court of Appeals rulings about the state constitution's salary limitations for public officials.
Judge Stahr also was on the bench during the preliminary proceedings in the murder case of Robert Humphreys, former Hickman County attorney, a case that for sheer emotional intensity has seldom been matched in Western Kentucky.
Shortly before that case came to trial Judge Stahr suffered his first heart attack. It came when, after a heavy snowfall in 1960, his car got stuck in a ditch. He became ill while walking for help.
'Sound As Dollar'
A year later he was hospitalized again, this time for a blood clot in his leg.
Again he recovered, and in July, 1962, saying that his physician had pronounced him "sound as a dollar," he announced that he would run for his fourth term as judge.
Last February, however, he had to go back to the hospital with a kidney ailment. From his hospital bed he announced that he was withdrawing from the race for re-election.
Wood C. Tipton of Hickman was elected to the post and will take over next month.
Honored At Dinner
Attorneys of his district honored Judge Stahr at a testimonial diner at Fulton Nov. 18. His friend, Milton C. Anderson, of Wickliffe, was the principal speaker; and others paying tribute to him were Thomas Waller of Paducah, immediate past president of the Kentucky State Bar Association, and Henry H. Lovett of Benton, former circuit judge and one of the deans of the district bar.
"One of Kentucky's greatest citizens and a judge who had been uniformly courteous, kind and understanding," was the way one of the tributes ran. "A judge who has always been able to see that every litigant had his day in court."
Degree From Cumberland
Judge Stahr was educated in the Fulton schools, Hickman College, the Hall-Moody Institute of Martin, Tenn., Bowling Green Norman School, now Western Kentucky State college, and received his law degree from Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn.
He married Mary A. McDaniel in 1914. Elvis J. Stahr Jr. is their only child.
Judge Stahr's body is at the Barrett Funeral Home here, where funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday. The Rev. W. T. Patterson, pastor of the Hickman Christian Church, of which Judge Stahr was a member, will conduct the service.
Burial will be in Hickman Cemetery. Members of the Fulton County bar will be pallbearers.
Besides his wife and son, Judge Stahr is survived by three grandchildren, Stephanie, Stuart and Bradford, all of Bloomington, Ind., and a brother, Charles F. Stahr of Hickman.
Paducah Sun-Democrat-
Paducah, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963
Kentucky Death Certificate #63-28547
Name: Elvis Jacob Stahr
Sex: Male
Color or Race: White
Death Age: 77 years
Marital Status: Married
Usual Occupation: Circuit Judge
Birth Date: [Sunday], April 25, 1886
Birth Place: Kentucky
Death Date: [Wednesday], December 25, 1963
Death Place: Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky
Cause of Death: Myocardial Infarction
Father: John Stahr
Mother: Annie Barnett
Informant: Mrs. Mary Stahr (wife)
Burial: City Cemetery, Hickman, Ky
.
Circuit Judge Elvis Stahr Sr
Dies Wednesday At Hickman Home
HICKMAN, Ky. (AP) — Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr Sr. who planned to retire next month after nearly 20 years on the bench, died Christmas Day at his home. He was 77.
Mrs. Stahr said her husband complained of illness Tuesday and blamed it on a bronchial infection. He suffered a heart attack in December, 1960.
Their only son is Elvis Stahr Jr., president of Indiana University and a former Secretary of the Army.
The Indiana University president will leave the campus Thursday for Hickman with his wife and their daughter, Stephanie, 11. Their two younger sons will remain in Bloomington, Ind.
Stahr, one of the most respected jurists in the state had served the First District in Graves-Fulton counties since 1945. He did not seek re-election this year because of his health.
At a dinner in his honor last month, he was described by one attorney as "a judge who has been uniformly courteous kind and understanding . . . and who always has been able to see that every litigant had his day in court."
Born in Fulton County on April 28, 1886, he was educated at Fulton schools, Hickman College, the Hall-Moody Institute of Martin, Tenn., Bowling Green Normal School, and received a law degree from Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee.
Stahr began practicing law at Hickman in 1911 and married the former Mary A. McDaniel in 1914.
That same year Stahr was elected county judge, a post he was to hold for two terms, served on the Hickman City Council as county attorney and 1ater as a state senator.
Stahr was elected circuit judge in 1944, being unopposed in the Democratic primary.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will of the multimillionaire banker Ed Gardber
Ed Gardner, a case still being disputed in court.
He also was on the bench when the Hickman Courier challenged a county judge's decision to close his records to the press.
In nullifying the decision Stahr commented that "Everybody knows a newspaper has the right to look at court records and publish them''
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
The Lexington Herald
Lexington, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963, p. 15
ELVIS J. STAHR SR.
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 25 (AP) -- Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. 77, who planned to retire next month after nearly 20 years on the bench, died Christmas Day at his home. His son, Elvis Stahr Jr., is president of Indiana University and a former Secretary of the Army.
The Daily News
New York, New York
Thursday, December 26, 1963, p. 48
Judge Elvis J. Stahr
Was Respected Jurist
Funeral services for Elvis J. Stahr, Sr.were held in Hickman last Friday afternoon. From all over America came messages of sympathy to his beloved wife and his distingished son, Elvis J. Stahr, Jr., former secretary of the Army and now President of Indiana Univesity. Sorrowing friends came from all walks of life to pay a final tribute of respect to this prominent jurist who looked like a judge, performed as a judge in the noblest concepts of his profession, and what's more was a brilliant judge of the law and of human nature.
It was perhaps the fact that he was a keen judge of human nature that made his fellow members of the bar say recently that he was "a judge with an innate sense of justice that can't be equalled."
It was at the testimonial dinner in his behalf recently that the inimitable jurist heard himself eulogized and commended. It was on November 20, scarcely more than a month before his retirement and death that a group of attorneys of the First and Second Judicial Districts paid tribute to Judge Stahr for distinguished service to bench and bar of the First Judicial District. He was presented a wrist watch as a memento of the occasion.
Though he appeared to enjoy the occasion those who knew him well could not help but realize that Judge Elvis Stahr felt he didn't need any kind of testimonial for doing the job he had done so well and with such dedication for so many years.
It was the court-room that the stature of Judge Stahr could be measured. Sometimes rared back in a swivel chair, sometimes hunched over the huge desk in front of him, sometimes gazing out of the window the casual observer to his court might have believed the judge on the bench was a disinterested by-stander. But as many a young and older lawyer soon learned, Judge Stahr was absorbing every argument and applying the law to it. There
(Continued on page eight)
JUDGE STAHR --
(Continued From Page One)
were no favorites before the bar when Judge Stahr was on the bench.
There were time when his impatience with oratorical eloquence in the courtroom was a real irritant to him. Once when the Hickman Courier challenged the County Judge's decision to close the court's records Judge Stahr boomed out: "Everybody knows a newspaper has a right to look at the court's records and publish them." He nullified the lower Court's decision.
Robust, gregarious, and shy of the limelight Judge Stahr was often amused at being called "Elvis Stahr's father." He loved it. He was mighty proud of the academic and governmental accomplishments of his only child. Though he performed his civic responsibilities, it was in his comfortable home with Mrs. Stahr that he was a truly happy man.
With the death of Judge Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. a chapter is forever closed on a vanishing breed of American pioneers. He was 77 when he died on Christmas Day.
Judge Stahr was elected circuit judge in 1944, being unopposed in the Democratic primary and had served the First District since that time. he did not seek re-election this year because of his health.
He was born April 25, 1886 in Fulton County, and had resided at Hickman all of his life. He was the son of the late John and Annie Barnett Stahr.
A graduate of Cumberland College at Lebanon, Tenn., Judge Stahr began practicing law in Hickman in 1911 and in 1914 was elected county judge, a post he was to hold for two terms. He served on the Hickman City Council, as county attorney and later as a state senator.
He was past master of the Masonic Lodge and a member of the First Christian Church at Hickman.
Judge Stahr announced his retirement earlier this year after he was hospitalized several times. He will be succeeded by Wood Tipton, Hickman, who won election in November.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will for the multi-million-aire banker Ed Gardner
Ed Gardner of Mayfield, a case still disputed in court.
Besides his wife and son, he also is survived by a brother, Charles F. Stahr of Hickman.
Funeral services were held Friday at 3 p.m. at the Barrett Funeral Home in Hickman. Rev. N. T. Patton, paster of the First Christian Church of Hickman officiated. Interment was in the Hickman cemetery.
The News
Fulton, Ky
Thursday, January 2, 1964, p.1 and 8
.
Judge Elvis Stahr
Dies At Hickman
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 25– First District Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr Sr., died at 10 a.m. Wednesday at his home here. He was 77.
Death came quietly as he prepared to retire January 1, after 18 years on the bench in the First District–Graves and Fulton counties.
He had been under treatment recently for a bronchial condition. His heart failed. His wife, Mrs. Mary McDaniel Stahr, was with him when he died.
Judge Stahr announced his retirement earlier this year after he was hospitalized several times. He will be succeeded by Wood C. Tipton, Hickman, who won election in November.
After receiving a law degree from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tenn., Stahr began practicing law here in 1911.
A Fulton County native, Judge Stahr was County attorney, County judge, and State senator before his election as circuit judge in 1945.
He was known throughout Kentucky as a jurist, but he was often referred to as "Elvis Stahr's father."
Judge Stahr's only child, Elvis J. Stahr , jr., is president of Indiana University. He formerly was dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, chancellor of the University of West Virginia, and secretary of the Army.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will of the multimillionaire banker Ed Gardner
Ed Gardner, a case still being disputed in court.
He also was on the bench when The Hickman Courier challenged a County judge's decision to close his records to the press.
In nullifying the decision, Stahr commented, "Everybody knows a newspaper has the right to look at court records and publish them.
On November 20, a group of attorneys of the First and Second judicial districts, paid tribute to Judge Stahr at a testimonial dinner at South Fulton, Tenn. He was presented a wrist watch on which was inscribed "To Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. for distinguished service to bench and bar of the First Judicial District."
Lawyers at the dinner spoke of Judges Stahr as:
"One of Kentucky's greatest citizens and a judge who has been uniformly courteous, kind and understanding.
A judge who has always been able to see that every litigant had his day in court"
"A judge with an innate sense of justice that can't be equaled"
He also is survived by a brother, Charles F. Stahr, Hickman.
The body is at Barrett Funeral Home here.
Louisville Courier–Journal
Louisville, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963
Funeral Friday
For E. J. Stahr,
Noted Jurist
By DON PEPPER, Sun-Democrat Staff Writer
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 26 – Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr, one of Kentucky's most colorful jurists, died Christmas morning at his home here, just a week before he was to retire.
Though the 77-year old judge of the First Judicial District had been in poor health, his death was unexpected. It apparently came as the result of a heart attack. He suffered a heart attack once before, in 1960.
On Christmas morning Judge Stahr remained in bed, and Mrs. Stahr gave him his breakfast there. About 10 a.m. she went to the front porch to see if the paper had come. she returned to the bedroom and remarked that the paper had come. Judge Stahr didn't answer, and she discovered that he was dead.
One Day of Court
Judge Stahr was to have completed his third and last term as judge Dec. 31. That would have been Friday morning in Mayfield, where he was to hear motions and sign his final orders of Graves Circuit Court. His last day on the bench was on Dec. 17 at Mayfield, where he heard attorney' motions and conducted a hearing. He attended a Christmas party at the Fulton County courthouse on Monday.
He was the father of one of the most brilliant men Western Kentucky has ever produced, Elvis J. Stahr Jr., former secretary of the Army and now president of Indiana University.
Proud of 'Day'
One of his proudest days was July 28, 1961, when Hickman observed "Elvis Stahr Day" in honor of his son, who had been named secretary of the Army by President Kennedy.
Judge Stahr's career in public life spanned almost exactly a half-century, starting within two years after his graduation from law school.
He was elected county judge of his native Fulton County in 1913 and served two terms. He served another eight years as county attorney and was elected to the city council. In 1939 he was elected to the state Senate, serving one four-year term.
Two years later he sought and won his first of three consecutive terms as circuit judge.
As a young man, county judge of Fulton County, Judge Stahr managed Alben W. Barkley's first campaign for Congress, thus helping launch one of the most remarkable political careers in American history. He and Barkley remained friends until Barkley's death.
He was widely know as a humorist. He enjoyed swapping stories with lawyers and judges during court recesses, and he liked to brighten a trial with humorous observations from the bench.
Informal Style
Informality was the style in his courtroom. He called himself a "country judge" and he dislike pretense and stuffiness.
When the Saturday Evening Post several years ago sent a writer to Kentucky to interview the state's famous raconteurs, Judge Stahr was one of those he talked with and quoted in the magazine article that resulted.
His last term on the bench was marked by some of the most difficult cases to be presented to any circuit judge.
During almost the whole of the last term he had to deal with the important pressure-packed litigation growing out of the dispute over the will of the late Ed Gardner in Mayfield.
Important Case
He had to decide a case of vital statewide importance when ousted Graves County School Supt. James B. Deweese sued the Board of Education for his salary. The case resulted in historic Court of Appeals rulings about the state constitution's salary limitations for public officials.
Judge Stahr also was on the bench during the preliminary proceedings in the murder case of Robert Humphreys, former Hickman County attorney, a case that for sheer emotional intensity has seldom been matched in Western Kentucky.
Shortly before that case came to trial Judge Stahr suffered his first heart attack. It came when, after a heavy snowfall in 1960, his car got stuck in a ditch. He became ill while walking for help.
'Sound As Dollar'
A year later he was hospitalized again, this time for a blood clot in his leg.
Again he recovered, and in July, 1962, saying that his physician had pronounced him "sound as a dollar," he announced that he would run for his fourth term as judge.
Last February, however, he had to go back to the hospital with a kidney ailment. From his hospital bed he announced that he was withdrawing from the race for re-election.
Wood C. Tipton of Hickman was elected to the post and will take over next month.
Honored At Dinner
Attorneys of his district honored Judge Stahr at a testimonial diner at Fulton Nov. 18. His friend, Milton C. Anderson, of Wickliffe, was the principal speaker; and others paying tribute to him were Thomas Waller of Paducah, immediate past president of the Kentucky State Bar Association, and Henry H. Lovett of Benton, former circuit judge and one of the deans of the district bar.
"One of Kentucky's greatest citizens and a judge who had been uniformly courteous, kind and understanding," was the way one of the tributes ran. "A judge who has always been able to see that every litigant had his day in court."
Degree From Cumberland
Judge Stahr was educated in the Fulton schools, Hickman College, the Hall-Moody Institute of Martin, Tenn., Bowling Green Norman School, now Western Kentucky State college, and received his law degree from Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tenn.
He married Mary A. McDaniel in 1914. Elvis J. Stahr Jr. is their only child.
Judge Stahr's body is at the Barrett Funeral Home here, where funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Friday. The Rev. W. T. Patterson, pastor of the Hickman Christian Church, of which Judge Stahr was a member, will conduct the service.
Burial will be in Hickman Cemetery. Members of the Fulton County bar will be pallbearers.
Besides his wife and son, Judge Stahr is survived by three grandchildren, Stephanie, Stuart and Bradford, all of Bloomington, Ind., and a brother, Charles F. Stahr of Hickman.
Paducah Sun-Democrat-
Paducah, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963
Kentucky Death Certificate #63-28547
Name: Elvis Jacob Stahr
Sex: Male
Color or Race: White
Death Age: 77 years
Marital Status: Married
Usual Occupation: Circuit Judge
Birth Date: [Sunday], April 25, 1886
Birth Place: Kentucky
Death Date: [Wednesday], December 25, 1963
Death Place: Hickman, Fulton County, Kentucky
Cause of Death: Myocardial Infarction
Father: John Stahr
Mother: Annie Barnett
Informant: Mrs. Mary Stahr (wife)
Burial: City Cemetery, Hickman, Ky
.
Circuit Judge Elvis Stahr Sr
Dies Wednesday At Hickman Home
HICKMAN, Ky. (AP) — Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr Sr. who planned to retire next month after nearly 20 years on the bench, died Christmas Day at his home. He was 77.
Mrs. Stahr said her husband complained of illness Tuesday and blamed it on a bronchial infection. He suffered a heart attack in December, 1960.
Their only son is Elvis Stahr Jr., president of Indiana University and a former Secretary of the Army.
The Indiana University president will leave the campus Thursday for Hickman with his wife and their daughter, Stephanie, 11. Their two younger sons will remain in Bloomington, Ind.
Stahr, one of the most respected jurists in the state had served the First District in Graves-Fulton counties since 1945. He did not seek re-election this year because of his health.
At a dinner in his honor last month, he was described by one attorney as "a judge who has been uniformly courteous kind and understanding . . . and who always has been able to see that every litigant had his day in court."
Born in Fulton County on April 28, 1886, he was educated at Fulton schools, Hickman College, the Hall-Moody Institute of Martin, Tenn., Bowling Green Normal School, and received a law degree from Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee.
Stahr began practicing law at Hickman in 1911 and married the former Mary A. McDaniel in 1914.
That same year Stahr was elected county judge, a post he was to hold for two terms, served on the Hickman City Council as county attorney and 1ater as a state senator.
Stahr was elected circuit judge in 1944, being unopposed in the Democratic primary.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will of the multimillionaire banker Ed Gardber
Ed Gardner, a case still being disputed in court.
He also was on the bench when the Hickman Courier challenged a county judge's decision to close his records to the press.
In nullifying the decision Stahr commented that "Everybody knows a newspaper has the right to look at court records and publish them''
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.
The Lexington Herald
Lexington, Ky
Thursday, December 26, 1963, p. 15
ELVIS J. STAHR SR.
Hickman, Ky., Dec. 25 (AP) -- Circuit Judge Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. 77, who planned to retire next month after nearly 20 years on the bench, died Christmas Day at his home. His son, Elvis Stahr Jr., is president of Indiana University and a former Secretary of the Army.
The Daily News
New York, New York
Thursday, December 26, 1963, p. 48
Judge Elvis J. Stahr
Was Respected Jurist
Funeral services for Elvis J. Stahr, Sr.were held in Hickman last Friday afternoon. From all over America came messages of sympathy to his beloved wife and his distingished son, Elvis J. Stahr, Jr., former secretary of the Army and now President of Indiana Univesity. Sorrowing friends came from all walks of life to pay a final tribute of respect to this prominent jurist who looked like a judge, performed as a judge in the noblest concepts of his profession, and what's more was a brilliant judge of the law and of human nature.
It was perhaps the fact that he was a keen judge of human nature that made his fellow members of the bar say recently that he was "a judge with an innate sense of justice that can't be equalled."
It was at the testimonial dinner in his behalf recently that the inimitable jurist heard himself eulogized and commended. It was on November 20, scarcely more than a month before his retirement and death that a group of attorneys of the First and Second Judicial Districts paid tribute to Judge Stahr for distinguished service to bench and bar of the First Judicial District. He was presented a wrist watch as a memento of the occasion.
Though he appeared to enjoy the occasion those who knew him well could not help but realize that Judge Elvis Stahr felt he didn't need any kind of testimonial for doing the job he had done so well and with such dedication for so many years.
It was the court-room that the stature of Judge Stahr could be measured. Sometimes rared back in a swivel chair, sometimes hunched over the huge desk in front of him, sometimes gazing out of the window the casual observer to his court might have believed the judge on the bench was a disinterested by-stander. But as many a young and older lawyer soon learned, Judge Stahr was absorbing every argument and applying the law to it. There
(Continued on page eight)
JUDGE STAHR --
(Continued From Page One)
were no favorites before the bar when Judge Stahr was on the bench.
There were time when his impatience with oratorical eloquence in the courtroom was a real irritant to him. Once when the Hickman Courier challenged the County Judge's decision to close the court's records Judge Stahr boomed out: "Everybody knows a newspaper has a right to look at the court's records and publish them." He nullified the lower Court's decision.
Robust, gregarious, and shy of the limelight Judge Stahr was often amused at being called "Elvis Stahr's father." He loved it. He was mighty proud of the academic and governmental accomplishments of his only child. Though he performed his civic responsibilities, it was in his comfortable home with Mrs. Stahr that he was a truly happy man.
With the death of Judge Elvis J. Stahr, Sr. a chapter is forever closed on a vanishing breed of American pioneers. He was 77 when he died on Christmas Day.
Judge Stahr was elected circuit judge in 1944, being unopposed in the Democratic primary and had served the First District since that time. he did not seek re-election this year because of his health.
He was born April 25, 1886 in Fulton County, and had resided at Hickman all of his life. He was the son of the late John and Annie Barnett Stahr.
A graduate of Cumberland College at Lebanon, Tenn., Judge Stahr began practicing law in Hickman in 1911 and in 1914 was elected county judge, a post he was to hold for two terms. He served on the Hickman City Council, as county attorney and later as a state senator.
He was past master of the Masonic Lodge and a member of the First Christian Church at Hickman.
Judge Stahr announced his retirement earlier this year after he was hospitalized several times. He will be succeeded by Wood Tipton, Hickman, who won election in November.
During his long tenure, Stahr presided during the suit challenging the will for the multi-million-aire banker Ed Gardner
Ed Gardner of Mayfield, a case still disputed in court.
Besides his wife and son, he also is survived by a brother, Charles F. Stahr of Hickman.
Funeral services were held Friday at 3 p.m. at the Barrett Funeral Home in Hickman. Rev. N. T. Patton, paster of the First Christian Church of Hickman officiated. Interment was in the Hickman cemetery.
The News
Fulton, Ky
Thursday, January 2, 1964, p.1 and 8
.
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