Baylor to Honor Judge Hightower at Austin Luncheon

by Alan Hunt

{imageRef("blankspace")}WACO, Texas ' Baylor University will host a luncheon honoring former Texas Supreme Court Justice Jack E. Hightower on Thursday, July 9, at the Austin Metropolitan Club. The luncheon will also recognize the Jack E. Hightower Endowed Scholarship in Law.
{imageRef("blankspace")}Judge Hightower, a longtime resident of Vernon, earned his bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1949 and a law degree in 1951. Hightower began his public service career in 1953 when he was elected to the Texas State House of Representatives. He also served as District Attorney for the 46th Judicial District from 1955 to 1962, and later served ten years in the Texas Senate. After 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, he was elected Justice of the Texas Supreme Court in 1988. He retired in 1996.
{imageRef("blankspace")}His work within the Baylor community earned him the Baylor Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 1996, he was named Baylor Lawyer of the Year.
{imageRef("blankspace")}He and his wife, Colleen Ward Hightower, also a Baylor graduate, are the parents of three Baylor graduates: Ann Thornburg, Amy Brees and Alison Suttle.
{imageRef("blankspace")}Family and friends of Hightower will be present at the luncheon. Steve Samples, the first recipient of the scholarship, will also attend.
{imageRef("blankspace")}Other guests include speakers Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr.; Brad Toben, dean of the Baylor School of Law and The M.C. and Mattie Caston Professor of Law; and Kent Hance, former U.S. congressman, former Texas state senator and former chairman of the Railroad Commission. Hance was also instrumental in the establishment of the scholarship.
{imageRef("blankspace")}Sloan will present a plaque to Judge Hightower. An identical plaque will be hung on the second floor of the Bill Daniel Student Center on the Baylor campus.
{imageRef("blankspace")}For more information, contact the Baylor Office of University Development at (254) 710-2561.