Fulton City Attorney Bob Sterner has good reason to remember retired Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton.
"He appointed me," he said. "I got to know him in the last month of his last year as Callaway County prosecuting attorney. I would be working for his successor."
Sterner, who also became a courtroom judge and more, said he learned of Hamilton's passing Monday evening.
"Gene Hamilton was one of the most distinguished and important members of the community in his years as Callaway County prosecuting attorney and 13th Judicial Circuit judge," he said. "He handled thousands of felony criminal cases as well as civil litigation and was appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court to preside over cases throughout the state when local judges had been disqualified. He was nominated by the state's judicial selection committee for the Missouri Court of Appeals but never was appointed by the governor."
While Hamilton had a huge impact on the Missouri court system and all he came in contact with, his family also remembers him with much love.
"Dad worked hard to instill in us the importance of hard work, honesty, and to always treat others the way you want to be treated," said his middle daughter, Kathryn Morgan. "He was always quick with a joke, often embarrassing us with one of his many puns or dad jokes. We appreciate all those life lessons, his teaching us by example, and even the jokes. Those are the things we will miss the most about him."
Born in Bachelor
Clifford Eugene Hamilton Jr. was born Oct. 31, 1942 to Cliff, and Mary Faun Hamilton. He was raised in Callaway County where his parents were politically active in the Callaway County Democratic Party.
As a boy, Hamilton worked on his parents' small farm near Bachelor, and also in his parents' general store. They kept a large kennel of Walker foxhounds.
"He and his dad owned foxhounds, and they became very famous showing them," said fellow attorney and lifelong friend Joe D. Holt.
When he was age 9, his father brought home a future champion foxhound, "Red Dot," and the father and son became partner trainers and judges. Hamilton was the U.S. junior champion showman at age 15 and judged his first bench show at the Little Dixie competition in Englewood.
After years of riding a bus from Bachelor to Fulton, Hamilton graduated from Fulton High School in 1960, worked as a country music disc jockey known by "Jumpin' Gene," and received an undergraduate degree from Westminster College four years later.
"In 1964, he graduated from Westminster with a political science degree and a commission in the U.S. Army Signal Corps," Holt said. "When he was in Germany (where Hamilton served as a second lieutenant in 1968 and 1969), he collected cuckoo clocks and steins, and he brought back some furniture."
Two years older than Hamilton, Holt said he served in the military before law school. When it came time for law school, they went together.
"He and I grew up together in North Callaway and we roomed together at law school until I got a better roommate, the girl I married," Holt said, laughing. "We go way back, and have been friends all the time. Gene was a good lawyer and a great judge."
When Hamilton arrived at the University of Missouri to seek a law degree, his father sold his pack of hounds to keep his son in school. In 1967, Hamilton received his juris doctorate from the University of Missouri School of Law.
He also married his wife, Marcia, that same year. The couple had three daughters: Mary Elizabeth Murrell, Kathryn Morgan and Sarah Hamilton, a lawyer in Jefferson City.
"Mom and dad met in study hall when he was a senior in high school and she was a freshman," Morgan said. "Their first date, he called her at a house where she was babysitting and asked her on a school trip to an amusement park in St. Louis."
They were married about 52 years.
Professional career
Hamilton was appointed prosecuting attorney in Callaway County on Jan. 1, 1970.
"When he got back (from military service), he was immediately appointed prosecuting attorney," Holt added. "My old law partner held that seat for Gene until he came back."
Hamilton served in that capacity for 11 years, meeting Sterner in late 1980.
He worked as a defense attorney until running in 1982 for circuit court judge, winning against Columbia attorney Milt Harper. Hamilton ran every re-election year unopposed for the next 28 years as judge. He was presiding judge from October 2002 through March 2010.
Presiding Judge Kevin Crane said, "Judge Hamilton was a great judge and a great person. (He) had a gift for poetry and a wonderful sense of humor. I learned a lot practicing in front of him and working with him."
Throughout Hamilton's time on the bench, Sterner had many opportunities to try cases in his courtroom.
"When I entered his courtroom, it was comforting to know that the judge knew what he was doing and the case was likely to proceed without judicial error," Sterner said. "He was a gentleman who impressed with his opening doors for others, whatever their status may have been, because it was the polite thing to do."
After becoming established in the courtroom, Hamilton rejoined his father in the foxhound world, and by 1985, they developed a national champion, Red Rooster. When his father died, Hamilton continued and won the 1988 national title with Red Rooster's son, Jitterbug. He served on the board of the National Foxhound Association and judged dogs for many years.
Hamilton presided in 1989 over the trial of Ralph Davis, the first murder case in Missouri to use DNA evidence. He was nominated to be a candidate in 1995 for Missouri Supreme Court justice. In 1997, Hamilton became the first drug court judge.
"He also served as chairman of the Rules Committee of the Missouri Supreme Court," Holt said. "He helped draft the rules of civil procedure and criminal procedure."
In 2010, he hung up his robes, spending time with his wife, Marcia, with plans to conduct arbitration mediation at the Fulton law firm Riley and Dunlap, the firm where Holt also works.
"He was a delightful person to know," Holt said. "He had a great sense of history and was a very nice man. He worked so hard as a judge and should have had a long time to enjoy his retirement. This is tough, because he was such a good guy."
Accolades
Officials with the Boone County Bar Association also noted Hamilton's passage in a Tuesday press release.
Attorney Hamp Ford said he knew Hamilton personally and professionally for more than 50 years. During that time, Ford never heard an unkind word spoken about Hamilton.
"Our community was blessed to have had the service of Judge Hamilton," Ford said. "He was a busy judge presiding over all matter of criminal, civil, domestic and family matters. He was prepared, patient and pleasant to all who appeared before him."
Judge Gary Oxenhandler fondly remembered Hamilton welcoming him to the bench in 2002.
"He lent me his robe for my swearing-in ceremony; it was a little short," Oxenhandler said. "In those first few days as a judge, I recall sitting in his office and asking him for any advice that he could give me as the 'rookie' judge. (He said) 'Gary, it doesn't matter what kind of case you have before you, it doesn't matter what issue you must decide, everyone involved will have greater respect for the system and, in turn, your decision, if you give them the opportunity to be heard give them a hearing.'"
Hamilton's sense of humor and poems were well known, according to Ford.
"He was known to offer delightful, personally crafted relevant limericks occasionally, yet all practicing or appearing before him appreciated his sincere interest in achieving justice through fair proceedings," Ford said.
Hamilton's retirement reception at Westminster College included former Gov. Roger Wilson, state Supreme Court Justice William Ray Price, Missouri Bar Association President Thomas Schneider and Sterner. His career included more than 500 cases.
"It was not a boast but an acknowledgement of what he was and how much he treasured his service on the bench when he told me, 'I was born to be a judge,'" Sterner added.
Family members said funeral plans are still in the works.