THE HONORABLE H. FRANKLIN WATERS • By Judge William R. Wilson, Jr.•
"Franklin waters walks across the federal judicial state, trailing clouds of glory behind him. "
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f ever any parents raised children who followed the biblical admonition, "Honor they mother and they father" it is Jane and H. FrankJin Waters. In interviewing all three daughters for this article. they were enthusiastic in their affection for, and admiration of, their mamma and daddy. Melissa Waters, a lawyer with Williams & Connolly in Washington, stares thar she didn't have to look around for a professional role model because she had one right in her own home. One of President Andrew Johnson's supporters and admirers in Tennessee sajd, after he left office, "Andy never went back on his raisin'." Likewise, according to Melissa, the judge loves to reminisce about his raisin' down in rural southwest Sebastian County. The Waters' dwell on their farm in northwest Washington County. One of the things he is extremely fond of is that, for years, many of his neighbors in Washington County thought he was a "regular farmer", not realizing that he had
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a day job at the federal counhouse. Daughter Melanie Bruner's first response to my call was "You wouldn't be writing about my Daddy if it weren't for Mamma. She has been his guiding force." She confirms that the judge is very proud of his "common roots". She also commends his perpetual good humor and wit. Furthermore. she reveals that he is a wonderful grandfather (for her three sons). Daughter Denise Waters, a selfemployed technical writer in Fayetteville, says, "Daddy is still a farmer at hean - if you want to know about a tree, he can identify it for you. He was an environmentalist before being an environmentalist was cool- he loves plants and animals and nature in general." In 1978, the Warers family suffered a grear rragedy in the loss of their oldesr daughter, Donna, in a car-train accident while she was a freshman at Hendrix College. Outside the courtroom, the judge is known as a quiet and unassuming person.