The Oklahoma Bar Journal September 2022

J ohn Paul Pinkerton of Dallas died July 9. He was born Nov. 24, 1944, in Jacksonville, Texas. Mr. Pinkerton received his bache lor’s degree in general engineering from OU and his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1969. After grad uating, he entered the U.S. Army as part of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, studying the Code of Military Justice at the University of Virginia. In 1970, he was assigned to Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. The following year he was stationed in Da Nang, Vietnam, where he spent 11 months representing the government in courts-martial of U.S. soldiers. Upon completing his military service in 1973, Mr. Pinkerton moved to Dallas and practiced in the area of intellectual property for the next 47 years. In 1997, he received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas. He left private practice in 2014 and became an administrative patent judge on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, where he served until his retirement in 2021. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. K ent Aubrey Polley of Edmond died Aug. 5. He was born Feb. 26, 1934, in Graham, Texas. Mr. Polley graduated from Okmulgee High School, where he was on the cheerleading squad and had parts in many plays. He received his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1957 and then returned to Okmulgee, where he worked in his family’s store and served as president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce and other civic organizations. In 1962, he joined a law firm in Oklahoma City and practiced in the areas of trusts, wills and estates. He

worked at different times for the city’s three major banks: First National, Fidelity and Liberty. In 1986, he opened his own prac tice. Mr. Polley was a member of Chapel Hill United Methodist Church, where he taught Sunday school and served as a counselor for the Methodist Youth Fellowship. T eresa Anne Rendon of Oklahoma City died June 17. She was born March 9, 1949, in Tulsa. Ms. Rendon received her J.D. from the OCU School of Law in 1988. She practiced family law as well as immigration law, helping hundreds of immigrants achieve their dream of becoming U.S. cit izens. Ms. Rendon’s familial con nection to Mexico, Mexican culture and the Mexican community in Oklahoma City was an important part of her life and identity, as was her Cherokee ancestry. G alen E. Ward of Bullhead City, Arizona, died Feb. 17. He was born Dec. 7, 1934, in McPherson, Kansas. In high school, Mr. Ward played on the basketball team and was a mem ber of the Boy Scouts, earning the rank of Eagle Scout. He attended Kansas State University, received his bachelor’s degree in geophys ical engineering and accepted a job with GSI in New Orleans. He was then transferred to Norman. Mr. Ward received his J.D. from the OU College of Law in 1965 and went to work for Phillips Petroleum Co. in Oklahoma City. In 1993, he retired from the company as regional chief attorney. Memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.

SEPTEMBER 2022 | 73

THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL