Home County: Randolph
Term of Service at the Supreme Court of Missouri: May 1963 – December 1976
Judge Lawrence Holman was born June 11, 1906, in Huntsville, Missouri.[i] He was a graduate of Huntsville public schools and Central Methodist College (now known as Central Methodist University) in Fayette before attending the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law.[ii] While pursuing his law degree, he was president of his law class and passed the bar examination one year before graduating.[iii]
After graduating in 1929, he started practicing law in Moberly in June 1929.[iv] He served as the Randolph County prosecuting attorney from 1931 to 1935, then returned to private practice.[v] When World War II broke out, the new prosecuting attorney, Marion Lamb, enlisted in the Navy, so Holman volunteered to be his assistant prosecuting attorney until his term expired.[vi] For a time, Holman was a partner in the firm Hammett & Holman in Moberly and continued in that partnership until his partner, Aubrey Hammett, was elected as circuit judge of what was the then Ninth Judicial Circuit in 1948.[vii] During Holman’s seven years as a trial court judge, he was asked by the judges of the St. Louis Court of Appeals (now known as the Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District) from time to time to sit with that court to hear, accept assignment of and write the opinion of the court in several cases.[viii]
After practicing law for nearly 20 years in Moberly, Holman’s judiciary career began January 27, 1948, when then-Governor Phil M. Donnelly appointed him to succeed Hammett as circuit judge of Howard and Randolph counties.[ix] He was elected to the unexpired term for circuit judge in November 1948 and reelected in 1952.[x] Holman served there until March 1955, when he resigned to accept appointment by the Supreme Court of Missouri as one of the Court’s six commissioners.[xi] He was reappointed for a term of four years later that year as well as in 1959 and 1963.[xii]
On May 14, 1963, then-Governor John M. Dalton appointed Holman under the Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan as judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri.[xiii] He assumed office June 5, 1963, and was retained November 3, 1964, for a 12-year term.[xiv] He served as chief justice from July 1967 to July 1969.[xv] Following his retirement on December 31, 1976, he worked in the field of arbitration for nine years.[xvi]
Judge Holman was a member of various legal organizations, such as Delta Theta Phi legal fraternity, The Missouri Bar, the American Judicature Society and the American Bar Association.[xvii] In 1955, he was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Plaque from Central College.[xviii]
Holman died February 23, 1989, in McAllen, Texas.[xix]
[i] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5.
[ii] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5.
[iii] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5 and 8.
[iv] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5.
[v] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223. See also: Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5.
[vi] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 6.
[vii] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 5. See also: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223.
[viii] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 7.
[ix] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223. See also: Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 6.
[x] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO, 1966), 223.
[xi] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 6.
[xii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223.
[xiii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223.
[xiv] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 6. See also: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO, 1966), 223.
[xv] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 6.
[xvi] Supreme Court of Missouri, In Memorium: Honorable Holman (Jefferson City, MO: Supreme Court of Missouri) September 27, 1989, 7. See also: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1975-1976, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc.,1976), 200.
[xvii] James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Thelma P. Goodwin, ed. Official Manual, State of Missouri, 1965-1966, (Jefferson City, MO: Von Hoffmann Press, Inc., 1966), 223.
[xviii] John Egan, “Former Supreme Court judge dies of injuries,” Jefferson City Tribune, (Jefferson City, MO), February 24, 1989.
[xix] News Tribune Staff, “Holman,” New Tribune, (Jefferson City, MO), March 12, 1989, 20.
Biographical information authored by Ms. Chloe Shoemaker, 2019, University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri.