Articles

The “Judge”

Bobb Mahrer, Membership Director

In the December 2010 issue of the distinguished publication known as the Texas Monthly there is an obscure little column written by Oscar Casares.  It is entitled “Imaginary Friends” and it begins on page 72 with a photo of the “Judge” standing in the Oval Office next to Vice President L.B. Johnson and President Jack Kennedy.  Oscar tells about an experience he had as a child at the age of eight.

He talks about when his father first told him that he knew Brownsville’s Federal District Judge, but that he didn’t believe his father ... until years later when he was grown.

    Casares recalls when his father put him in the car and drove across town and stopped across the street from a two-story colonial brick house, stately with double front doors and white pillars that reminded him of a library.  His father, who worked for the USDA in Brownsville, went on to tell him that in 1961 the “Judge” became the first Mexican American appointed to be a U.S. Federal District Judge.  At the time Casares didn’t quite understand the significance of such an appointment.  After all, in his world in Brownsville, he thought everyone was Mexican American.  What was the big deal.

    For years, he listened to his dad talk about his friend the “Judge” and through all those years he doubted that is father knew this man.  After all, dad’s real friends came to the house to have dinner.  This man, the “Judge” was never at their house.  This friend of dad had to have been imaginary.

    Later, President Jimmy Carter came to town to ask the “Judge” to be his Attorney General.  The “Judge” turned him down because he did not want to leave his family and did not want to leave Brownsville and live in Washington D.C.  But after turning down the job of Attorney General, President Carter appointed the “Judge” to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, making him the first Mexican American to serve in that position.

    Several years later, Casares personally received an autographed copy of the “Judge’s” biography, and on the inside the front page, it read, “You’re father and I were friends.”

    With the many distinctions the “Judge” had throughout his life, there is one more that was most meaningful to him and to those of us who are Catholic and members of the Knights of Columbus in Texas.  The “Judge” was also our State Deputy during the years of 1953-1955.  Yes, I am talking about the one and only Judge Reynaldo Garza.  I’m talking about a man, who despite a very busy and distinguished career, had time for the Knights of Columbus.  I’m talking about a man who with greatness had walked with presidents of our great nation, and who was also humble and had the time to walk with us.

    So, the next time you ask a man to be a member of the Knights of Columbus, the next time you ask a man to share in the vision of Venerable Father J. McGivney, and that man says he is too busy and doesn’t have time, ask him this.  Ask him if he is busier than the “Judge”.
Fraternally in Christ,
Bobb Mahrer, Membership Director
Brad Meyer, Recruitment Chairman


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