James Barrow

Judge James Barrow, 82, of 197 Dearing Street, died on May 30, 2000.

  Judge Barrow was a distinguished jurist and respected legal scholar, a decorated veteran of World War II, and a devoted husband and father. He was a member of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Athens.

James Barrow was born in Athens in 1917, the son of the late James and Clara Elizabeth Barrow of Clarke County. He was descended from the Barrow, Lumpkin, Pope, and Church families which have been prominent in this part of Georgia throughout its history. Barrow attended public schools in Athens and was graduated from the University of Georgia during the Great Depression, earning his AB in 1937 and LLB in 1939. At the same time, he managed the farm that had been in his family for six generations, a responsibility he inherited at age 17 upon his father's death.
Before America's entry into World War II, Barrow enlisted in the Army as a private and was honorably discharged in April of 1946 with the rank of Captain. He participated in five campaigns in the European Theater of Operations in a tank destroyer battalion attached to the First U.S. Infantry Division, and was awarded the Silver Star and Bronze Star medals for gallantry in action against German forces.
Upon his return to private practice after the war, Barrow also taught law at the University of Georgia Law School from 1946 until he took office as Superior Court Judge in 1963. In addition, Barrow was elected City Attorney for the City of Athens, an office he held from 1950 until his election as Superior Court Judge.
As City Attorney, Barrow served as de facto superintendent of public safety in the wake of public disturbances attending the desegregation of the University of Georgia, and he was instrumental in averting the violence that attended the desegregation of other southern universities. During the public school desegregation crisis, Judge and Mrs. Barrow served as co-chairs of H.O.P.E. (Help Our Public Education), which successfully opposed efforts to close the public schools rather than submit to federal court orders to desegregate.
Barrow was a founder and first president of the Athens Legal Aid Society in 1961. Before the Supreme Court required the states to do so, the Society was organized to provide counsel to persons who had the right to a lawyer but could not afford to hire one.
Barrow was elected Superior Court Judge of the Western Judicial Circuit in 1962 and was thereafter re-elected without opposition until his retirement in 1990, when he was appointed by the Governor to serve as Senior Judge of the Superior Courts. He continued to serve on a full-time basis through 1995.
Barrow began his service as a Judge at a time when the country was on the verge of sweeping changes in the law's treatment of the civil rights of minorities and the criminal rights of those charged with crimes. He was not a reluctant player in the struggle to make the law respond to the felt necessities of the times. Instead, he embraced changes in the law that he thought were long overdue. In many cases he made decisions that the appellate courts adopted, significantly affecting Georgia law.
Judge Barrow continued to serve as a role model in the civil rights movement, charging grand juries to comply with new federal laws guaranteeing civil rights that many local officials throughout the South were urging people to disobey. During the investigation of the murder of U.S. Army Col. Lemuel Penn by the Ku Klux Klan (the murder at Broad River Bridge), Judge Barrow was virtually alone among local public officials in offering the assistance of his office to federal officials investigating the outrage.
Barrow's service on the bench was recognized by the Georgia State Bar in 1992 with the Tradition of Excellence Award, its highest honor for judicial service.
Services will be at First Baptist Church at 11 a.m. on June 2, with the Rev. Jon Appleton officiating. Pallbearers will be Chief Judge Joseph Gaines, Judge Kent Lawrence, Judge Susan Tate, Harry Gordon, Jack Lumpkin, Charles Holcomb, Jim Hudson, Denny Galis, Milner Ball, and Billy Bryant. Honorary pallbearers will be the Board of Directors of the Southern Mutual Insurance Company.
Survivors include his wife, Phyllis Jenkins Barrow; a brother, Tom Barrow, of Killeen, Texas; six children and their spouses: Judge Mike and Ruth Barrow Bracewell, of Madison, Jim and Sallyanne Crawford Barrow, of Stephens, and Don and Phyllis Barrow Nelson, Tom and Kathy Harvey Barrow, John and Victoria Pentlarge Barrow, and Hal and Church Barrow Crow, all of Athens; nine grandchildren: Jim and Sam Barrow, of Stephens; and Parker, Eleanor, and Michael Crow; Steven Barrow; Arthur Nelson; and James and Ruth Barrow, all of Athens. He was preceded in death by a grandson, Clute Barrow Nelson, of Athens.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial gifts be made to The Clute Barrow Nelson Life Foundation, 320 Milledge Heights, Athens, Georgia 30606. The Foundation was formed in memory of his grandson to provide financial help to families of children with cancer.