American Lawyers Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award Winners

 Thank you, Mary Ellen, for such a warm, gracious and overwhelming introduction! Let  me start by saying how honored I am to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement  Award from the American Lawyers Alliance. You asked what brought me to Austin:  

 My family moved to Austin in the early 1950’s when my father returned to graduate  school to obtain a PhD in History from the University of Texas. We moved from a small rural  community of 600 people where I had attended second grade, to the big city of Austin with a  population of 150,000. I have certainly seen changes in Austin over the last 60 + years!  

 During the fourth year of the five year B.S. degree in Pharmacy at the University of  Texas, I was selected to attend a pharmacy student conference hosted by the University of  Oklahoma on their Norman, Oklahoma campus. Bill was a fourth year pharmacy student at  OU and chaired the host committee. Needless to say, he was a perfect host! When I returned to  Austin we ‘long distance’ dated through our final year of pharmacy school and married the  summer after graduation. He had applied to law schools that final year and showed his smarts  by deciding to move to the Lone Star State. I continued to work as a pharmacist while he  attended law school and thus the journey began.  

 I think being associated with the medical community can make one more conscious and  sympathetic to the suffering and plight of those around us. As a plaintiffs attorney for the last 50 years, Bill has been able to use both his medical knowledge from pharmacy and his law  degree to help families and clients who had been injured. We are also very committed to Legal  Aid and Legal Services for the Poor. Each summer we fund 6 law school students’ summer  internships to work in Public Interest Law venues throughout the United States. These students  continue to be an inspiration to us as they work to provide legal assistance to those most in  need. The law has been an extremely rewarding career for BOTH of us.  

 We have two daughters, Emilee Dawn Whitehurst and Rebecca Danielle Whitehurst  who are now in their 40’s. Emilee was born in Okinawa, Japan, where we were assigned while  Bill was on active duty as a JAG Officer in the Air Force. Although she was not born in Texas,  we got her here as soon as we could! She attended Stanford University undergraduate then  received a Masters of Divinity from Harvard University. She is an ordained Presbyterian  minister and currently is the President and CEO of the Houston Area Women’s Center, a non profit center providing services for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. However, her  most important job is being the mother of our two granddaughters, Vivian and Tabitha.   Our younger daughter, Rebecca, was born in Austin and is an Assistant Professor in the  Department of Theater at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. She also  attended Stanford undergraduate and subsequently received an MFA in Acting from Harvard  University/Moscow Arts Theater. This was followed by an academic year teaching and  studying at the Moscow Arts Theater in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar. She is an equity actor  and interdisciplinary teaching-artist.  

We are fortunate to have been able to actively follow their careers and pursuits  throughout the years⎯from their first grade school play or gymnastic meet to watching the  next generation follow in their footsteps.  

 I have been very active in Assistance League, a national volunteer service organization,  and served as its Austin President in the early 1990’s. My most challenging task was co chairing a $3.1M capital campaign in 2003 that enabled the organization to purchase a  building which houses our service projects and a fundraising Thrift House resale store. It was a  5 year project and was a learning experience for sure! The camaraderie, friendships, and pride  of accomplishment I gained will stay with me forever.  

 Austin is fortunate to have an active cultural arts scene. I have served on the Board of  Ballet Austin and am currently an advisor on its Foundation Board. Again, having been a part  of and having seen the arts community grow throughout the years has been extremely  rewarding. 

 Of course the College of Pharmacy at the University of Texas has a special place in my  heart, and I enjoy serving on its Student Financial Aid Committee which meets annually to  award scholarships to pharmacy students. The impact of the global pandemic has been  devastating to students and their families so this need is especially heartfelt. Again, it is the  resilience and persistence of those most negatively impacted that inspires and motivates each of  us to give back.  

 When we returned to the states from Japan in 1975, Bill began practicing law in  Austin. Very soon thereafter we became involved in ’young lawyer’ activities and realized that  one could have fun and ‘do good’ at the same time. In fact, doing good for others WAS fun!   Bill then became president of the State Bar of Texas and later president of the  International Academy of Trial Lawyers. His association with the Texas Bar and subsequent  involvement with the American Bar Association led me to auxiliary work in both  organizations.  

 I became aware of the American Lawyers Auxiliary in 1991 when Dorothy Bates from  Waco, Texas, was President and asked me to participate on the Teacher of the Year Committee.  Being involved in such a worthy project and having the opportunity to work with such dynamic and committed women was a true gift. These legal organizations have all provided many  meaningful experiences and wonderful friendships over the years. Each step of involvement  along the way has rewarded us with a treasure of wonderful memories. Although no longer in  the ‘young lawyer’ category, we still see ourselves in the enthusiasm and dedication of the new  generation of attorneys… and the rest is history!  

Bill and I love travel and are anxious to ‘get back out there’. The last several years we  have been fortunate to have acquired a wonderful circle of friends in the International  Academy of Trial Lawyers. We are hoping to have the international green light for a trip to  Berlin with that group in 2022, and also a trip to Italy (which has been postponed twice) with a  professor of WWII history to visit Allied Italian campaign sites. And of course we will be ooking forward to the American Lawyers Alliance Spring 2022 trip to San Antonio. Nothing  could be better than spring in the Texas Hill Country!