Class of 1958
(Notes posted in the order they were received, with the newest posts on top.)
William Styne Brewbaker Jr., 73, a lifelong resident of Montgomery, Alabama, died Monday, January 21, 2008. Mr. Brewbaker was the son of the late William Styne Brewbaker and Cassie Leta Brewbaker. He is survived by his wife Carol Lansden Brewbaker and their sons William Styne Brewbaker III (Rebecca) of Tuscaloosa, and Dick Lansden Brewbaker (Ruth) and their daughter Carol Brewbaker Rickard (Donald). Mr. Brewbaker is also survived by thirteen grandchildren; Catherine Garner Brewbaker, Mary Lansden Brewbaker, William Styne Brewbaker IV, Rebecca Grace Brewbaker and Samuel Joseph Brewbaker, all of Tuscaloosa; David Lansden Brewbaker, Thomas Garrett Brewbaker, William McCall Brewbaker, Benjamin Lee Brewbaker, James Alexander Brewbaker, Margaret Caldwell Rickard, Caroline Christian Rickard, and Martha Claire Rickard. He is also survived by his cousin Dorothy Gilmer Rooker of Atlanta.
Mr. Brewbaker received A.B. and LL.B. degrees from Vanderbilt University, where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity and Phi Beta Kappa and played on the varsity tennis team. He served three years in the U.S. Air Force as a staff judge advocate. In 1961, he returned to Montgomery and joined his father in the automobile business and succeeded him as President of Brewbaker Motors. He was president of the Montgomery Automobile Dealers Association, chairman of the Buick Regional Dealer Council, G.M. President's Advisory Board, G.M. National Dealer Council, Time Magazine chairman of the Buick National Dealer Council, Quality Dealer Award (Alabama) 1993. Mr. Brewbaker was a Sunday School teacher and elder emeritus at Trinity Presbyterian Church. Memorials may be made to the Building Fund, Trinity Presbyterian Church, 1728 S. Hull St., Montgomery, Alabama 36104, Medical Outreach Ministries, 1301 E. South Blvd., Montgomery, Alabama, Third Millennium Ministries, P.O. Box 300769, Fern Park, Fl. 32730-0769 or The Montgomery Symphony, 301 N. Hull St., Montgomery, Alabama 36104. Leak-Memory Chapel Directing
For more than forty years, he has served as general counsel for the Southern Baptist Convention. His practice is primarily in areas of law impacting religious bodies and church-related institutions. A native of Little Rock, Guenther earned his bachelor’s and jurisprudence degrees from Vanderbilt University. Immediately following graduation from law school and admission to the Tennessee Bar in 1958, he was employed as in-house counsel at the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In addition to working with his firm, Guenther has represented the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities (IABCU) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He and other members of his firm provide counsel to several Baptist state conventions and many institutions fostered by those conventions, including seventeen colleges and universities as well as local churches.
A writer of numerous articles on nonprofit and higher education law, Guenther currently co-authors a column on legal issues for IABCU’s periodical publication, The Educator. He has also contributed to Ascending Liability in Religious and other Nonprofit Organizations and authored A Memorandum on Ascending Liability, which addresses the legal theories by which liability may be imputed between and among churches and affiliated religious bodies in Southern Baptist life.
“For many years, university administrators have looked to Jim Guenther for advice and counsel,” said Dr. Lanny Hall, university president. “A well-respected legal professional, Jim Guenther is intimately familiar with higher education law. Howard Payne University has benefitted from his good work for more than two decades. We are proud to honor this man of faith with this special recognition.”
He is admitted to practice in the United States District Court for Middle Tennessee, the United States Courts of Appeals for the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits, and the United States Supreme Court.
Jim and his wife, Patricia, are members of First Baptist Church, Nashville. They have three children - Valerie, Jeff and Stephen - and two grandchildren - Matthew and Erin.
Elmore Holmes III, who practiced corporate law for 47 years at what is now Armstrong Allen in Memphis, TN, died July 25, 2005, of a heart attack. Elmore was also an artist who painted birds, nature scenes and people in watercolors. His daughter, Sally Holmes Thomas of Memphis, said her father considered his paintings a "private indulgence." "His friends and family will remember him with affection as, simultaneously, a corporate lawyer moonlighting as an artist and an artist moonlighting as a corporate lawyer," she wrote. After graduated first in his law class, he returned to his hometown of Memphis to practice law. His last day at work was the Firday before his death on Saturday. "He would have been at work Monday if he had been on his feet," said his wife, Sara Matthews Holmes. A founder of the Community Legal Center, he was honored for his work with the center in 1997 with the Tennessee Bar Association's Pro Bono Award. "He was a stickler and a perfectionist," his wife said. "But he also had a light touch with everyone. He was a mentor to many younger lawyers and he enjoyed the teaching role."
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