{{Short description|American judge}} '''Barbara Green Culver''' (later '''Barbara Culver Clack'''; February 9, 1926 – September 12, 2016) was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court.
Culver was born in Dallas, Texas, the daughter of Lawrence F. and Alice Bryson Green.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinamerica0000unse_p8u8/page/214/mode/2up|title=Who's Who in American Law 1992-1993|year=1991|publisher=Marquis Who's Who|page=215}}</ref> She graduated from Texas Tech University in 1947. She practiced law together in Midland, Texas with her first husband John Culver for ten years following their graduation from the Southern Methodist University Law School in 1951. She was initially hired to read law for Culver, a World War II veteran who was determined to study law despite losing his eyesight during wartime. However, due to the volume of work, she decided to earn a law degree too.<ref name="SMU">{{cite web|url=http://www.law.smu.edu/news/2016/september/dedman-law-remembers-former-justice-barbara-culver|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170419044325/http://www.law.smu.edu/news/2016/september/dedman-law-remembers-former-justice-barbara-culver|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 19, 2017|title=Dedman Law Remembers Former Justice Barbara Culver Clack|publisher=SMU Dedman School of Law|access-date=July 4, 2019}}</ref>
In 1962, upon being elected as the Judge of Midland County, she became the first Republican (and female) to hold and oversee a county office in Midland. Due to how the county’s court system was constructed, Culver headed the commissioner’s court and presided over matters that included probate proceedings. On February 1, 1988, Culver became the second female appointed as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. She ran for election to keep in her seat in November of that same year, but lost to Jack Hightower. Culver remained on the bench until December 7, 1988.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.txcourts.gov/supreme/news/justice-barbara-culver-clack-1926-2016/|title=TJB {{!}} SC {{!}} News {{!}} Justice Barbara Culver Clack, 1926–2016|website=www.txcourts.gov|access-date=2019-09-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gexaAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA248|title=The Texas Supreme Court: A Narrative History, 1836–1986|last=Haley|first=James L.|date=2013-02-15|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=9780292744585|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FmIdAQAAMAAJ|title=News & Notes|date=1987|publisher=National Association of Regional Councils|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L3mWBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71|title=Attacking Judges: How Campaign Advertising Influences State Supreme Court Elections|last=Hall|first=Melinda Gann|date=2014-10-29|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=9780804793094|language=en}}</ref> It was also in 1988 that Culver married her second husband James H. Clack, a retired judge. The Justice Barbara Culver Juvenile Justice Center, originally called the Culver Youth Home, in Midland, Texas was renamed in her honor after it was expanded.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mrt.com/lifestyles/passages/obituaries/article/Midland-loses-one-of-its-treasures-Judge-9287661.php|title=Midland loses one of its 'treasures:' Judge Barbara Culver|last=Todd|first=Ed|date=2016-09-17|website=Midland Reporter-Telegram|access-date=2019-07-23}}</ref>
She died on September 12, 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npwelch.com/obituary/judge-barbara-culver-clack/|title=Judge Barbara Culver Clack|publisher=Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory|language=en|access-date=2019-09-06}}</ref>
==See also== * List of justices of the Texas Supreme Court
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=Robert M. Campbell}} {{s-ttl|title=Justice of the Texas Supreme Court|years=February 1, 1988 – December 7, 1988}} {{s-aft|after=Jack English Hightower}} {{s-end}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Culver, Barbara}} Category:1926 births Category:2016 deaths Category:20th-century Texas state court judges Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:20th-century American women lawyers Category:Lawyers from Dallas Category:Southern Methodist University alumni Category:Texas Republicans Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas Category:20th-century American women judges