Halbert Owen Woodward (April 8, 1918 – October 2, 2000) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas (in case citations, N.D. Tex.) is a United States district court. Its first judge, Andrew Phelps McCormick, was appointed to the court on April 10, 1879. The court convenes in ...

Education and career

Born in

Coleman Coleman may refer to: Places Antarctica * Coleman Glacier (Antarctica) * Coleman Peak, Ross Island Canada * Coleman, Alberta * Coleman, Ontario * Coleman, Prince Edward Island United Kingdom * Coleman, Leicester, England United States * C ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, Woodward received a

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

degree from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1940 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Texas School of Law The University of Texas School of Law (Texas Law) is the Law school in the United States, law school of the University of Texas at Austin, a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas. According to Texas Law’s American Bar ...

in 1940. He was a hearing examiner for the Texas Employment Commission from 1940 to 1941. He was a title examiner for the Humble Oil and Refining Company from 1941 to 1942. He was in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

as a Lieutenant during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, from 1942 to 1945. He was a land and title supervisor for the Humble Oil and Refining Company from 1945 to 1949. He was in private practice in Coleman from 1949 to 1968. He was a member of the Highway Commission of the State of Texas from 1959 to 1968, and Chairman from 1967 to 1968.

Federal judicial service

Woodward was nominated by President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

on April 25, 1968, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Joseph Brannon Dooley Joseph Brannon Dooley (December 13, 1889 – January 19, 1967) was a United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas. Education and career Born in San Angelo, Texa ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on June 6, 1968, and received his commission on June 7, 1968. He served as Chief Judge from 1977 to 1986. He assumed senior status on December 30, 1986. Woodward served in that capacity until his death on October 2, 2000, in Brownwood, Texas.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, Halbert Owen 1918 births 2000 deaths People from Coleman, Texas McCombs School of Business alumni University of Texas School of Law alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson United States Navy officers Military personnel from Texas 20th-century American lawyers