Kenneth Koch Woodley

WOODLEY, KENNETH KOCH (1892~1972) Kenneth Koch Woodley was born in Moulton, Texas to Henry Bascom and Alice Caroline Quebedeau Woodley on July 5, 1892. Judge Woodley was educated in the public schools of San Antonio and at Lakeside Institute in San Antonio. He attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas during 1909 - 11, and earned his law degree from Cumberland University Law School in 1913. He earned a second law degree from the University of Texas in 1916, and in 1961, was granted an honorary doctor of laws degree from Southwestern University.

Licensed to practice law in Texas in 1913, Judge Woodley began a two-year practice in Austin. During 1918-37, Judge Woodley practiced in Sabinal, serving as county attorney of Uvalde County from 1919 to 1923. He was district attorney of the 38th Judicial District during 1927 - 37 and judge of that district from 1937 to 1950. Appointed commissioner of the Court of Criminal Appeals in 1950, by then Judges F. L. Hawkins, Harry N. Graves and Tom L. Beauchamp, Judge Woodley was elected to succeed Judge Beauchamp upon his retirement in 1953, and reelected to six-year terms in 1958 and 1964. He was appointed presiding judge of the court by then Governor John Connally in 1967, and retired from the court in December 1970.

Judge Woodley served the State Bar as chairman of the Judicial Section during 1940 - 41; vice-chairman of the Legislative Committee during 1941 - 42; and chairman of the Committee on Criminal Law and Procedure during 1954 - 55. He was also past president of the Border District Bar Association (1939 - 40) and a member of the Travis County, Uvalde County and American Bar Associations and the Texas Council on Administration of Justice. Judge Woodley was recipient of the St. Thomas More Award from St. Mary's University School of Law in June, 1958, and later, the Rosewood Gavel Award from St. Mary's. He was a member of the board of trustees of St. Mary's at his death. He had been a member of the Chi Phi social fraternity at the University of Texas, and later was a member of the Sabinal American Legion and Masonic Lodge and of the Kiwanis Club.

Hunting and fishing as well as football, baseball and other spectator sports were among his interests outside the profession. Judge Woodley had served as a first lieutenant in the Texas National Guard, stationed at Orange in 1918. Earlier a Methodist, Judge Woodley joined the Christian Church in 1916, upon his marriage to Jane Barnard, and at his death, he was a trustee of University Christian Church in Austin.

Information taken from: Obituary of Kenneth K. Woodley, from the Texas Bar Journal 35:6 (22 June 1972), p. 628.