Judicial Swearing In & Gavel Presentations

On October 10th, District Court Judge William LaFortune presided over the swearing-in of Special District Judge Loretta Radford before the Tulsa County District Court. Judge Radford’s son, Samuel Lee Terry, also a lawyer who practices in Texas, was present and assisted his mother with her robe.

Judge Radford is from West Tulsa and was the 11th child of 15 children. She was sworn in on the Bible that was given to her mother by her sister, both of whom are now deceased. TCBA president Philip Hixon presented the ceremonial gavel to Judge Radford and gifted Special District Judges Tanya Wilson and Mary Ann Godsby with ceremonial gavels as well. Due to the pandemic, these two judges were not able to have in-person ceremonies and missed receiving their gavels. The TCBA is proud to welcome these Judges to the bench.

• Oklahoma City Meetings 6-7:30 p.m. on the dates listed below. In-person meetings in Oklahoma City are held at the office of Tom Cummings, 701 NW 13th St., Oklahoma City. The group will also meet virtually at the same time using BlueJeans. Email debraj@okbar.org for login information. Meeting Dates: Nov. 3, Dec. 1.

• Tulsa Meetings are held 5:30-6:30 p.m. on the second Thursday of each month at the office of Scott Goode, 1437 S. Boulder Ave., Ste. 1200, Tulsa. scottbgoode@gmail.com

Mac McDougal celebrated his 100th birthday on July 4th, 2022. Born July 4, 1922 in Clovis, California, he passed October 2, 2022 in Portland, Oregon.

Here we wish to share a little about Judge McDougal's life and express our thankfulness for his service as a Veteran and to the legal community. Thank you to his daughter, Bryn and the Cherrywood Village Retirement Community in Portland, Oregan for sharing with us. Mac was in the audience for the last Molli Paige concert in which she began with music from the 20's. This pleased Mac since he was born in that decade. He has always loved music and sang as a boy soprano in his church choir until he was 16 years old.

Many years later he was working as a bookkeeper at the Alisal Guest Ranch near Solvang, California. Luckily for him, his model baritone, Nelson Eddy, and Jo Stafford were guests, and Mac was permitted to sing duets with them. Then came WWII, a delayed education, marriage and again choirs when he was 60 years old in Tulsa, Oklahoma, then Summerplace and CherryWood Village.

Mac began his service to his country in the Army in WWII as a Liaison Pilot and as an Army Aviator in the Korean Coinfict. Seeing action in combat in Leyte, an island in the Philippines, and on Okinawa, earning two Purple Hearts, two Air Medals and a promotion to Captain. Upon release from active duty, he earned a BS Degree in accounting.

While attending the Oklahoma Baptist University, he met his wife, Murrel Goetz. Since he had remained in the Army Reserve, combat action in the Korean War was inevitable. When he did resume his civilian life, he earned an LLB degree from the University of Tulsa Law School. A respected District Judge, he was re-elected repeatedly without opposition. He served in the Probate Division until his retirement to private practice in 1983, still being called "Judge Mac" At ages 73 and 70, he and Murrel built their "retirement home" of 3,700 square feet with a 900 square foot garage in Oklahoma. They enjoyed it for only 10 years, when circumstances dictated they should move close to their daughter, Bryn and her sons Drayden and Callan. It was difficult in 2006 leaving both a conservative state and their completely handicapped-accessible home. They moved to Portland and initially bought a house in Summerplace. In 2016 they downsized again to their current cozy apartment in the Greens at Cherrywood Village. Thank you Judge McDougal for your contributions and sacrifices to our nation. You will be remembered with great respect!