4 minute read
BACKGROUND CHECK Hon. Sheila Calloway | Bart Pickett
If you are lucky enough to know Sheila Calloway, then you have a good friend. Her vivacious and infectious personality attracts people and quickly endears her to all. Nashville’s Juvenile Court judge started life in Louisville, Kentucky, where she grew up the second daughter of a father who worked as a contracting agent for General Electric and a mother who was a librarian. In high school, she played clarinet and did color guard. She was also a cheerleader for her first three years and ran track her senior year.
Calloway does not remember ever visiting Nashville prior, but she ended up here in 1987. Her older sister went to Northwestern where their parents encouraged Calloway to go. Opposed to the cold, Calloway sought an alternative. Her sister’s best friend was going to Vanderbilt and told Calloway how much fun it was, so Calloway convinced her parents that going there with a close family friend was almost the same as being there with her sister. At Vanderbilt, Calloway majored in Communications with a minor in Political Science. She was active in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and did marching band for one year. She was also on the Homecoming Court.
Calloway recalls writing a paper in 4th grade on wanting to be a lawyer and help people. To that end, law school had always been the plan. When it came time for law school, Calloway chose to stay at Vanderbilt. In her mind, she was going to school to become Whitney Houston’s attorney. All it took was a near failing grade in Contracts to quickly change that.
Her first summer, she went back to Louisville to work at a firm where she discovered that she enjoyed criminal law. The second summer, Calloway worked with the Vandy Criminal Clinic doing appellate work and even got to argue before the Court of Criminal Appeals and won. She retains that winning record as that was her one and only appellate argument.
When deciding where to practice, Calloway considered moving back to Louisville or staying in Nashville. Calloway landed a job at the Nashville PD with Karl Dean which cemented her decision to stay here forever since she was not going to take two bar exams. She started out practicing in the General Sessions Courts before switching to Criminal Court before Judge Shriver, until his death. She briefly practiced before Judge Norman, then switched to Juvenile Court in December 1998.
Calloway’s father used to say, “You can do better. You will be a judge one day.” She, however, had been fine with just being a lawyer. It wasn’t until 2002 when a Juvenile Court magistrate position opened up that Calloway changed her mind. She didn’t get that position, but she just saw that as God’s timing as she found out she was pregnant shortly thereafter. Within a few weeks of returning from maternity leave in 2004, Judge Betty Adams Green appointed Calloway as a magistrate.
Calloway began attending meetings across the country which exposed her to reforms going on in juvenile courts and inspired her to continue to work to improve our juvenile justice system. After Green announced her retirement in 2012, Calloway applied but was not chosen. By November 2013, Calloway decided she wanted to run so she left her job as a magistrate and for the first time did some private practice while also campaigning. She won the primary election in May 2014 and faced no opposition in the general. She was re-elected in 2022.
When she’s not in court, Calloway can be found in the community where she serves on several boards and is active in her sorority. She’s an avid Vanderbilt and Titans fan. She has Titans season tickets and has travelled to games around the country and in London. She can also often be found singing anytime there’s a microphone and a request, or karaoke. She is in the choir and is the co-director of the children’s choir at Temple Church.
Calloway lives in Hermitage with her husband Paul Calloway, Jr. They have one son, Paul, III, who attends Western Kentucky University as a junior.
