My friend, Charlye Farris
Charlye Farris, 80, died following a battle with cancer.
District Attorney Barry Macha, a close friend, confirmed Farris died about 5:15 p.m. with her son, Troy, at her side.
“She was an inspiration to all of us,” Macha said.
The Booker T. Washington High School graduate became the first black woman in Texas to earn a license to practice law in 1953.
Macha said Farris had to go to the University of Denver Law School because a black woman could not gain entrance to Texas schools at that time.
A short time later she moved back to Wichita Falls and became the first woman to practice law in Wichita County. By 1954, she was County Judge Pro Tem, making her the first black woman in the South to serve in a judicial position since Reconstruction.
Farris opened a private law practice on the city’s predominantly black East Side. After passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, she moved her office downtown. Later, she served as acting district judge of the 78th Court.
Despite her breakthrough achievements, Farris told the Times Record News in a 2003 interview she considered herself a private person, who enjoyed travel and bridge.
The Wichita County Bar Association and the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation established a scholarship in her name.
More recently, the former Fannin Elementary School was converted into the Farris Early Childhood Center, named both for Charlye Farris and her mother, Roberta, who was an educator for 47 years. Roberta Farris, 104, survives her daughter.
Charlye Farris was active until her illness limited her activities. She was appointed to the Midwestern State University Board of Regents in 2006.
In addition to her mother, Farris is survived by a brother and a son. Funeral arrangements had not been announced as of press time Thursday.
By Lynn Walker for the
Times Record News
