This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/FdF.2ACEB/300 Message Board Post: Albuquerque Journal - May 7, 2002 Bratton Called a Model Judge By Paul Logan Journal Staff Writer Former U.S. District Court Judge Howard Bratton, highly respected by attorneys and jurists for his competence and fairness, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 80. Bratton, of Albuquerque, served the court for about 36 years and was a mentor for a number of lawyers, including two prominent New Mexican U.S. District Court judges. Bratton was "enormously fair" and an excellent example of "how a judge should comport himself on the bench," said Chief U.S. District Court Judge James Parker. He said Bratton's great intellect allowed him to skip three grades as a young man. Parker called Bratton "a mainstay" on the court, serving as chief judge for 11 years. "If I could be as much like Judge Bratton was as a judge on the bench, I would be a good judge," Parker said. Bratton "was an extraordinary judge" and a "very bright, friendly fellow," said Chief Magistrate William Deaton of the U.S. District Court. "He was a very good person to practice in front of if you knew what you were doing," Deaton said. "He knew the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure. ... He knew how to run a trial. It was a pleasure to practice in front of him." Born in Clovis, Howard C. Bratton followed his father, Sam, to the bench. His father was a District Court judge in Clovis, a New Mexico Supreme Court justice and then a U.S. senator. Howard Bratton graduated from New Mexico Military Institute at age 15, then entered the University of New Mexico. He was at Yale law school when World War II began. He reached the rank of Army captain while serving under Gen. George Patton. After Bratton graduated from Yale in 1947, he practiced law in New Mexico. President Johnson appointed him a U.S. district judge in 1964. Bratton served until 1987, when he took senior status and worked as a federal judge in Las Cruces. He left the bench in 2000 due to failing health. Bratton received many honors from the state bar, including Judge of the Year in 1981, the Distinguished Judicial Service Award in 1992 and the Professionalism Award in 1994. UNM School of Law gave Bratton its Distinguished Service Award in 2000. A private service and burial will be held at Santa Fe National Cemetery. Survivors include his wife, Frances, of Albuquerque; daughters Kay Bratton and Jean Hollowwa, both of Albuquerque; and a son, Sam Bratton, of Tulsa, Okla. Memorial donations may be made to the New Mexico Cancer Foundation, 4901 Lange NE, Albuquerque, NM 87107, or the Bratton Hall Fund, UNM School of Law, 1117 Stanford NE, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1431.