John Waters Herrick

John W. Herrick of North Conway died Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at The Memorial Hospital following a long illness. He was 83.Celebrated for being one of the countrys finest and most colorful civil trial lawyers, Mr. Herrick practiced law in Fort Worth, Texas, from 1951 to his retirement in 1988. Fellow attorneys remember his as being a brilliant and creative legal strategist with an exceptional ability to sway jurors to his side, and as one of the first lawyers to regularly use demonstrative evidence such as aerial photographs and scale models of accident scenes. Working almost exclusively as a plaintiffs personal injury lawyer, representing people hurt in a variety of accidents, Mr. Herrick set records for jury verdicts in numerous counties. A lifelong Democrat, Mr. Herrick enjoyed using his expertise in the courtroom to champion the cause of people of limited influence and financial means. In his last case, which involved the 1985 crash of a Delta Airlines L1011 at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, Mr. Herricks love of humor came to the fore when he read the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant to show how six FAA employees in the air traffic control tower could have seen things differently on the evening of the crash. His witty cross-examination of a witness for the government earned him not only newspaper coverage, but also a permanent place in the air traffic controllers manual.Nine years into his retirement, and after having been a resident of Freedom for seven of those years, a newly formed Fort Worth chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates honored Mr. Herrick by awarding him their first-ever Certificate of Lifetime Achievement in recognition of not only his many accomplishments as trial lawyer, advocate and mentor, but also for his high personal character and honorable reputation. In 1966, he was elected to charter membership in the Fellows of the Texas Bar Foundation based on his outstanding professional ability. He was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1955, and before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1956.Mr. Herrick was a member of the American Bar Association, American Trial Lawyers Association, Texas Bar Association, American Academy of Political and Social Sciences and the Law-Science Academy of America.Born in Jamestown, N.Y., on July 31, 1923, to Lucille (Knupp) and Gerald Anson Herrick, Mr. Herrick grew up in Lakewood, New York, on Lake Chatauqua, where he enjoyed speedskating as a teen. His father, a lawyer whohad been partners with Robert Jackson (who was later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt), took a job with the Justice Department, moving the family to Washington, D.C., where Mr. Herrick graduated Western High School. (His classmates elected him Most Modern.)Following a stint as a bellman at the prestigious Carlysle Hotel, he entered the U.S. Army Air Corps and went into aviation cadet training; his daredevil approach to flying, however, soon had him relegated to bombardier status. An emergency appendectomy prevented him from joining his group on the Queen Mary, so he was sent over later by himself, designated as his own troop commander, which required him to attend meetings with such military luminaries as Gen. George Patton. Stationed at Ridgewell Air Force Base outside of Cambridge, England, he was flying his seventh mission as a part of the 381st Bomber Group, when he was shot down over Germany and forced to bail out of a flaming B-17 bomber from 20,000 feet. He suffered facial burns and a bullet wound to the leg, and served 14 months as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III, eventually escaping with the help of a German family who hid him for three weeks. He was later awarded a Purple Heart and an Air Medal, and was elevated to the rank of first lieutenant. Those wartime experiences gave him a passion for living every moment to its fullest that was to become his trademark.Following the war, Mr. Herrick received his bachelors and law degrees from Duke University in Durham, N.C., and became a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. During the summers he worked as a forest ranger in Maines Acadia National Park, and wrote articles for the Bar Harbor paper, which captured the attention of famed mystery writer Mary Roberts Rhinehart (the author would eventually interview him twice).Friends have characterized him as unwaveringly honest and generous, with a natural love for people and an ever-present twinkle in his eye; a larger-than-life, Zorba-the-Greek personality who possessed exceptional curiosity and delighted in good conversation and good books, world travel and fine dining. He loved skiing the expert slopes in Aspen, scuba diving in the South Pacific, playing golf and tennis, and watching the Dallas Cowboys, then the New England Patriots, play football. He was also an avid Red Sox fan. Mr. Herrick was a member of Ridglea Country Club and the Petroleum Club of Fort Worth, and Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, an international gastronomic society.Survivors include his wife and constant companion of the last 40 years, Judy (Jones) Herrick, three children, Gail Poe of Madrid, Spain, Leslie Kleuser of Fort Worth, Texas, and David Herrick, also of Fort Worth, three grandchildren, and his beloved Pomeranian, Steffi.A memorial celebration of John Herricks life will be held Sunday, April 15, at 5 p.m. at the Jackson Community Church, with a reception to follow in the churchs fellowship hall. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., with full military honors, on Tuesday, May 1, at 9 a.m.The Furber and White Funeral Home of North Conway is in charge of arrangements.