CENTENNIAL Looking Back Okeechobee County Judges sponsored by Henry Hudson Hancock Henry Hudson Hancock established his homestead on the east side of Taylor Creek in 1902. On April 5, 1904, Hancock became the third registered voter in the new voting precinct of Tantie. After St. Lucie County was created out of lower Brevard County in 1905, Hancock was appointed justice of the peace of district 6 in Tantie, as well as cattle inspector. Judge Hancock served as justice of the peace from 1906 to 1913 and from 1915 to August 1917. When Okeechobee County was established in August 1917, Hancock was appointed the first county judge; he served to the end of 1918. Judge Hancock was also elected as a school trustee in Tantie (1908), St. Lucie County, and served in 1921 in Okeechobee County. He served on the Okeechobee City Council from 1924 to 1929, and was mayor and municipal judge from 1933 to 1936. Henry Hudson Hancock 120 Years George Cleveland Durrance of George Cleveland Durrance moved to Okeechobee County in July 1917 and was admitted to the practice of law in 1926. Durrance was elected county judge in 1918, defeating J.A. ! ! McCollum, and served all of 1919. He was again elected in 1924 and re-elected in 1928. Judge G.C. Durrance, in addition to his private practice, also served as a county prosecutor, an assistant state attorney, attorney for the City of Okeechobee and as attorney for the Board JusticeBy Judge William L. Hendry of County Commissioners. Judge Durrance was a farmer in the Eagle Bay area and a cattle- man for many years. In fact, the antique farm equipment A variety of Okeechobee County residents have served honorably, displayed in front of Seacoast Bank was used by Judge Durrance on his Eagle Bay farm in the 1920s. upholding the law, since Florida created its first ‘justice districts’ in 1887. George Cleveland Durrance Joseph Edgar Lovvorn rticle V of the Florida Constitution of 1887 provided that the county commission of each county should Joseph Edgar Lovvorn, who moved to Okeechobee in 1917, served in the Home Guards divide the county into “justice districts” — not fewer than two — and elect a justice of the peace in each of Okeechobee County in 1918 and 1919. He became county judge in January 1920 and district to serve a term of four years. Justices of the peace had less civil and criminal jurisdiction than county served until the end of 1924. Judge Lovvorn and his wife, Roxie, owned and operated the judges, but justices were more accessible to the rural population, particularly to perform weddings and to Hotel Lovvorn, located on Seventh Street in Block 164 of Okeechobee. takeA oaths relating to legal documents. The office of justice of the peace was abolished in 1972. Thomas Wilton Conely Jr. Beginning in the 1880s, justices of the peace in the Basinger area were H.C. Morgan, John H. Walker, Jeremiah Walker, Thomas Wilton Conely Jr. moved to Okeechobee in 1921 George M. Hubbard and P.H. Menley; in the Fort Drum area: J.M. Lee, John F. Parker, Streety Hare and James Levy and opened a law practice. Prior to his move to Okeechobee, Joseph Edgar Lovvorn Anderson; and in the Tantie area: Henry H. Hancock, Charles L. Haskill and Thomas B. Owens. he had worked for Henry Flagler’s Florida East Coast Rail- road. He was also a lieutenant in the Army Engineers and served in France during World War I. Small claims courts were authorized by legislative act in 1951. The Okeechobee County Commission established such a court that year. The judge was furnished an office in the courthouse, together with supplies; utilities; and compensation, Later, he was elected mayor of the City of Okeechobee, serving from 1923 to 1926. He paid from filing fees, not to exceed $7,500 per year. was elected state representative in 1926, serving in the 1927 session. He was elected county prosecuting attorney, serving from November 1923 to January 1927 and December 1927 to The judge could also continue his private law practice. Glover E. Bryant Jr. was appointed by Governor Fuller Warren 1933. T.W. Conely Jr. was elected county judge in 1932, serving from 1933 to January 1957. as the first small claims court judge. Judge Bryant served until January 1957, when he became county judge. Other judges who followed were Otis Whitehurst, Lester W. Jennings Jr. and J. Edward Curran. Small claims courts were Judge Conely also served 13 years as city attorney and almost 30 years as the attorney for the abolished in 1972. Thomas Wilton Conely Jr. Board of County Commissioners, in addition to his private law practice. 62 | October 2017 OKEECHOBEE THE MAGAZINE www.OkeechobeeTheMagazine.com October 2017 | 63 Edward A. Miller Edward A. Miller received his law degree from Stetson University in 1964 and was admitted Glover Emerson Bryant Jr. to the Florida Bar. Miller had a brief private practice but later served many years as an assistant Glover Emerson Bryant Jr. attended Stetson University, earned a law degree in 1949 and was state attorney in Bay, Broward, Dade, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Okeechobee counties. admitted to the Florida Bar. G.E. “Bo” Bryant came to Okeechobee in 1949 and opened a law practice with Mary Schulman in the Okeechobee County Bank building. A small claims He was elected county judge in 1988 and re-elected in 1992. He served until July 1996, court was established in August 1951, and Governor Fuller Warren appointed Bryant as the when he resigned to run for sheriff of Okeechobee County. He won — the first Republican first small claims court judge. to hold that office. Judge Miller also served as an acting circuit judge. He served in that office until being elected county judge in 1956, with his term beginning in Shirley Marguirette Brennan January 1957. He served as county judge until his retirement at the end of December 1980. Shirley M. Brennan came to Okeechobee in 1981 as an Judge Bryant served as attorney for the Board of County Commissioners from January to assistant public defender and, in 1992, became an assistant November 1957 and had also served as attorney for the Board of Public Instruction. state attorney. Brennan was the third female attorney to Edward A. Miller practice law in Okeechobee, following Mary Schulman Judge Bryant was the first of the Okeechobee County judges to have graduated from law school. Glover Emerson Bryant Jr. and Virginia Lee Culbreth (Durrance). Following the resignation of Judge Edward A. Miller at the end of June 1996, the office of county judge was declared vacant and subject William Lesley Hendry to appointment by the governor. Any appointment made would extend only until the next William Lesley Hendry was born in Okeechobee in 1929. He attended the public schools general election in November 1996. of Okeechobee County and graduated from Okeechobee High School (OHS), Class of 1947. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and served from 1950 to 1954, during which time Both Brennan and Jerald D. Bryant qualified for the general election and were considered he was promoted to staff sergeant and non-commissioned officer in charge of the Base Judge for appointment. Brennan won the general election and took the oath of office on Dec. 20, Advocate’s Section, 813th Bomb Group, Strategic Air Command. Shirley Marguirette Brennan 1996. Judge Brennan was re-elected in 2000 but lost her bid for re-election in 2006 to Bryant. Following his honorable discharge in September 1954, Hendry returned to the University During her term in office, Judge Brennan was involved in protecting the rights of children and victims of domestic violence. of Florida, received his law degree in January 1957, and was admitted to the Florida Bar in As county judge, Brennan was automatically a member of the Children’s Services Council. Judge Brennan was the first woman June 1957. After almost 23 years in private law practice, Hendry was elected county judge to hold the office of county judge in Okeechobee County, the last judge to serve in the 1926 “Historic Courthouse,” and the — the first Okeechobee native and OHS graduate to serve in this office. Judge Hendry was first judge to serve in the new judicial administration building following its dedication in 2005. also appointed as an acting circuit judge, serving in all four counties of the 19th Circuit. William Lesley Hendry Jerald D. Bryant As county judge, he established the first work program Jerald D. Bryant (no relation to Judge G.E. “Bo” Bryant Jr.) grew up in Okeechobee and for prisoners and those on probation. When Judge Hendry took office in January 1981, he graduated from Okeechobee High School’s Class of 1967. He then served four years in the was presented with a Bible, gavel and judicial robe by the Bar Association at his investiture U.S. Marine Corps. After returning to Okeechobee, he attended Indian River Community ceremony. He thus became the first of the Okeechobee county judges to wear a judicial robe. College and later graduated from the University of Central Florida. Burton C. Conner In 1982, Bryant graduated from Stetson University with a degree in law. Bryant worked Burton C. Conner and family moved to Okeechobee in 1979, where he worked as an assistant for over 25 years in banking and in law, including serving as city attorney for the City of public defender and then as an associate in the law office of Conely and Conely, P.A. from Okeechobee from 1985 to 1988 and as assistant public defender from 1982 to 1985.