The Oklahoma Bar Journal March 2023

I n M emoriam

P aul Wilson Austin of Norman died Jan. 16. He was born June 25, 1960, in Topeka, Kansas. Mr. Austin volunteered as a guardian ad litem for parties who could not afford one, a judge for the OU College of Law’s moot court and skills competitions and an auctioneer for the Organization for the Advancement of Women in the Law’s annual fundraiser. He served as the president of the Cleveland County Bar Association and a peer-elected delegate to the House of Delegates at the OBA Annual Meeting. D avid Allen Box of Claremore died Jan. 1. He was born April 30, 1945, in Muskogee. He received his J.D. from the TU College of Law. Mr. Box served in the U.S. Army for two years . Upon his return, he practiced law in Muskogee before serving as a special judge in the 12th District Court of Oklahoma in Claremore for 21 years. While serving as a judge, he created a community service program and drug court to help drug offenders get rehabilita tion help. He was a member of the Blue Starr Church of Christ. R ichard O. Burst of New Braunfels, Texas, died Oct. 20. He was born May 6, 1941, in Guthrie. In June 1960, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Burst served as a site crypto main tenance operator until he was medically discharged in 1968. He received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1973 and moved back to Guthrie, where he became the prosecuting attorney and eventually the city attorney. His family then moved to Port Isabel, Texas, where Mr. Burst worked

as assistant district attorney for Cameron County until becom ing an attorney for the Cameron County Commissioner. G uy Palmer Clark of Ponca City died Jan. 23. He was born May 27, 1940, in Oklahoma City. After receiving his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1965, he attended Officer Candidate School and the Naval Justice School. He served his country from 1966 to 1970 as captain of the U.S. Marine Corps at the Marine Corps Air Station at Kaneohe Bay in Hawaii as a judge advocate. Upon his return, he opened his own law practice in 1972 and eventually merged with Northcutt Law Firm in 1977. He served on the OBA Board of Governors for two years and the Oklahoma Bar Foundation Board of Trustees for five years. Memorial contributions may be made to the Guy Clark Memorial Fund or Grace Episcopal Church. W illiam Joseph Doyle III of Tulsa died Jan. 6. He was born Jan. 28, 1938, in Tulsa. He received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1963 and passed the bar in both Oklahoma and Michigan. He served in the U.S. Army and was honorably dis charged at the rank of captain in 1966 . He practiced law for over 50 years as a partner of the Jones, Givens, Gotcher, Brett, Doyle & Bogan law firm and later joined Doyle & Salisbury. Among other awards, he received the OBA’s Award for Outstanding Pro Bono Service in 2013. D an W. Ernst of Tulsa died Feb. 12. He was born May 25, 1955. Mr. Ernst grew up in

Middleburg Heights, Ohio, a sub urb of Cleveland. He received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1980 and practiced in the area of insurance defense law. Memorial contributions may be made to the Tulsa Chapter of the Alliance of Therapy Dogs. R ex Duane Friend of Oklahoma City died Jan. 7. He was born Oct. 13, 1954, in Coldwater, Kansas. He received his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1983. Mr. Friend lived in the Oklahoma City area for more than 45 years, working as an immigration attorney for many of them. Additionally, he served as a board member of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty for more than 20 years. W illiam R. Geyer of Norman died June 10, 2022. He was born Dec. 6, 1948. Mr. Geyer received his J.D. from the TU College of Law in 1975. G retchen A. Grover Harris of Norman died Jan. 7. She was born April 27, 1947, and grew up in Guthrie. She received her J.D. with distinction from the OU College of Law in 1981. During law school, she was recognized by the OBA as an Outstanding Senior Law School Student and received the Paul K. Frost Memorial Award for academic and leadership achieve ment. Over the years, she was active in various OBA committees, earning the Women in Law Mona Salyer Lambird Spotlight Award. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Vincent de Paul at St. Mark the Evangelist, the Linda Scoggins Scholarship Fund at the OU Foundation or a local animal rescue organization.

70 | MARCH 2023

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL