Everett Lord honored with Southeast Texas Legends Scholarship
Lamar University and the Beaumont Foundation of America have announced the fifth of nine Southeast Texas Legends Scholarships – this one honoring the late Everett Lord, an imposing legal opponent in family and domestic law in Southeast Texas who died in 1994. The $100,000 endowed scholarship will assist underserved students who attend Lamar University, President Simmons said at a ceremony and news conference Thursday, May 10, 2007, in the University Reception Center of the Mary and John Gray Library.
Everett Lord was born in Port Arthur and raised in Beaumont. He was introduced to the legal profession at a young age, having a father who served as a criminal district court judge. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin School of Law in 1941. Lord served in World War II in the Pacific Theater and retired from the Navy as a commander. His military career spanned 28 years of active and inactive service.
“I remember him telling me about stitching up wounded soldiers in the Aleutian Islands during the war,” said Helen Lord, his wife and legal secretary for 15 years. “Few people know that Everett initially wanted to be a doctor.”
Lord’s friends and colleagues describe him as a colorful character; always telling it like it was without consideration for socially gentile speech. He was a man of his word, according to Melvin Boneau, a Port Arthur attorney who worked with Lord for several years. Lord had a habit with clients of quoting a price for the fee by saying “That’ll be $3250” assuming the client knew he meant three thousand-two hundred and fifty dollars. Boneau received a call from Lord telling him about receiving a check for $32.50 from a client who was paying for services associated with her divorce.
“I asked Everett what we were going to do about the mix-up,” said Boneau. “He told me we were going to cash the check and write it down as a lesson learned. He was a true man of his word. But, he never quoted prices in that manner again.”
Everything was done on a handshake back in those days and you could always trust Everett Lord, Boneau said. He related a story about a call he received from Lord saying he invested his share of a divorce fee in stock options and had invested Boneau’s share of the fee as well. Boneau was quick to point out to Lord that stock options can evaporate as quickly as dewdrops on a summer morning, but the Port Arthur attorney said it was the only time in his life he ever doubled his money in 29 days.
Lord made the extra effort to help others. Whether it was a client who needed personal counseling more than legal representation or new lawyers trying to find their way in the Beaumont legal community, Lord was there to lend a hand.
“Everett Lord is described as a man who was always willing to go the extra mile to help someone,” said Lamar University President James Simmons. “Although he was a family law attorney litigating divorces and custody battles for a fee, he never passed on an opportunity to move a couple toward reconciliation when he saw it was possible. We’ll never know all the people he helped along the way, because he never wanted recognition or fanfare for a good deed. That, in my opinion, is the mark of a true legend.”
Walter Sekaly, a friend and business associate, recalled his first memories of Lord. As a new attorney in Beaumont, Sekaly went to the Jefferson County courthouse where he saw Everett Lord for the first time. “He looked, to me, to be the epitome of what a lawyer should look like, so I decided I would go and meet him,” Sekaly said. He went to get a haircut before going to Lord’s office and, coincidentally, there Lord sat in the barber’s chair.
“I introduced myself, and he said if I’d wait a few minutes, he’d take me to the courthouse and introduce me around,” Sekaly continued. “He spent most of that day with me, and it really helped get me started in my law career. He was a very special kind of guy.”
In 1976, Lord’s peers chose him to serve as interim judge for the Jefferson County Family District Court, filling in for a judge with an extended illness. To commemorate 44 years as an outstanding family and domestic lawyer, the State Bar of Texas hung a plaque in 1995 bearing Lord’s name in the State Bar of Texas building in Austin. Lord was among 23 lawyers in Texas recognized in the 1983 edition of The Best Lawyers in America published by Harvard Law. He was an author of many articles for the Texas Bar Journal, taught family law at Lamar University and assisted in preparing the state exam for board certification in family law in Texas. He was a member of the Jefferson County Bar Association, Texas Bar Association, State Bar of Texas and Texas Bar Foundation.
“I’ll never forget one case Everett had in which he had a client who had lied to him and she even had her witnesses lie for her telling them her attorney said it was okay,” said Helen Lord. “He told the woman he was going to put her on the stand and she would have to tell the judge and jury she had lied. She refused at first, but he told her she would have to get another attorney if she didn’t go on the stand and recant; which she eventually did. And, as a matter of fact, she did get custody of her children in that case. Everett Lord was a man of principle.”
Lord was the father of four children; Penny Williams of Austin, David Lord of Lexington, Kentucky; Lisa Pederson of Beaumont, and Michele Bertrand of Beaumont. The Southeast Texas Legends – Everett Lord Scholarship will be awarded beginning fall 2007.
