David Sutton Meredith II

  General Notes:

D. S. Meredith, Jr., Dies at 55
D. S. Meredith, Jr., 55, former Gregg county judge and former judge of a special district court here during the busy days after the discovery of the East Texas oil field, died of a respiratory ailment at the Leake clinic in Gladewater about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday after an illness that lasted about eight days.

Considered by many to have had one of the most brilliant legal minds ever to serve on the bench in Gregg county, Meredith had been engaged in the private practice of law here since his retirement from the judge advocate general's staff of the United States Air Force and his subsequent appointment as an assistant attorney general under John Ben Shepperd. Few of the judgments he rendered as special district judge here were ever reversed.

Funeral services will be conducted at the Rader Funeral home at 4 p.m. Wednesday by Dr. Stanley Carter, pastor of the First Methodist church of which Judge Meredith was a lifelong member; Dr. Sloan Gentry pastor of the First Christian church; and Dr. Frank Richardson, of Tyler, former pastor of the First Methodist church here. Burial will be in Greenwood cemetery.

Born in Longview on July 22, 1902, Judge Meredith was graduated from Longview High school and attended the University of Texas. While he was a senior at the University he was elected county judge of Gregg county, being the youngest county judge in the state of Texas.

He served from 1927 until 1928 as county judge and was elected district attorney in 1928, serving until 1931 when he resigned to enter the private practice of law with the late E. M. Bramlette.

In 1935, he was appointed judge of the special district court of Gregg county by Gov. James V. Allred, was elected without opposition and served until 1940 when he resigned to form a law partnership with Carroll and Leslie Florence in Gilmer.

He enlisted in the United States Army as a private in June of 1942 and was graduated from the Anti-aircraft Officers Candidate school at Camp Davis, N. C., in December of the same year. He was commissioned in the Judge Advocate General corps in 1943 and went to Ann Arbor, Mich., for special training. Upon completion of this special training, he was sent to the Pacific theater of operations and served on the judge advocate staff throughout the remainder of the war.

Meredith returned to the United States and resumed the private practice of law after World War II. He was recalled to active duty in the Air Force in 1952 and was stationed at Bitburg, Germany, until 1954 as a major on the judge advocate's staff. In 1955, he was appointed assistant attorney general by John Ben Shepperd and served in this position until December 31, 1956, when he returned to Longview to resume the private practice of law.

Meredith was a 33d degree Mason, a member of the Moslah temple at Fort worth, member of the Knights of Pythias, Elks lodge and the Gregg County Bar association.

Surviving are his mother, Mrs. D. S. Meredith, Sr.; three sons, Capt. David Sutton Meredith III of Dayton, Ohio, Henry McGaughy Meredith of Dallas and Will Gordon Meredith of Longview; one sister, Mrs. Walton Sumner of New York City; two brothers Perry Meredith and Wilmer T. Meredith of Longview; two grandchildren, David Sutton Meredith Iv and Lois Leland Meredit.

Active pallbearers will be Roland and Edwin Bodenheim, Dozier Skipper, W. G. Knox, Carroll and Leslie Florence, Paul Bramlette and Gaines B. Preston. ¹

David married Lois Leland McGaughy, daughter of Henry Patterson McGaughy and Corinne Gladys Leland. (Lois Leland McGaughy was born on 16 Sep 1903 and died on 3 Nov 1984 in , Dallas County, Texas.)