By Mark Tucker, Dean of Library & Information Resources (2003 – 11)
Road trips through the Texas country-side were always fun, but never more than when I visited Judge Jack Pope at his home in Austin. I made several trips with the late Bruce Evans (class of 1959), who was serving in the ACU Foundation. For the first of these journeys, we were accompanied by former Library Director, Marsha Harper (class of 1959), and thereafter by Carisse Berryhill from Library Special Collections. We assisted the Judge in sorting through papers, photographs, and books for eventual transfer to ACU. Judge Pope and his friend and caregiver, Lauren Barrett, would greet us warmly, the Judge regaling us with colorful political commentary and fond reminiscence about college days. Jack Pope loved ACU deeply, and he often credited Dean Walter Adams (class of 1925) for teaching him how to organize a speech and how to write a paper with clarity and authority. These skills proved richly beneficial in a career featuring more than 200 speeches, 1,000 legal opinions, and countless hours of Sunday School teaching at the University Avenue Church of Christ.
Judge Pope was possessed of vast legal and historical knowledge but also an engaging, charismatic personality. This was obvious in downtown restaurants when our entourage would be interrupted by a state official or local attorney seeking to make an introduction and then thanking the Judge for his career of service and leadership. Jack Pope approached life strategically, with great faith, a powerful sense of duty, and clear-eyed attention to detail. One morning he waved his cane in the direction of his papers and memorabilia accumulated over a lifetime saying, “I didn’t think I would have to worry about all this stuff, but this ‘dying thing’ has taken longer than I thought.” Whatever he may have thought he lacked in the process of dying, he had more than made up for in the process of living.
Read more about Pope’s remarkable career in this ACU Today blog post that commemorated his 100th birthday.