Memorials December 2022
Submit a memorial at texasbar.com/memorials or call (512) 427-1830. For information on closing a deceased attorney’s practice, go to www.texasbarcle.com/materials/closingapractice.html.
Patrick M. Flachs
Flachs, 72,
of Wildwood, Missouri, died June 22, 2022. He received his law degree
from St. Mary’s University School of Law and was admitted to the Texas
Bar in 1978. Flachs was also a member of the Missouri Bar. He served in
the U.S. Army and U.S. Army Reserve and was in the U.S. Army Judge
Advocate General’s Corps from 1972 to 1985. Flachs was a trial attorney
with the U.S. Department of Justice Environmental and Natural Resources
Division in Washington, D.C., from 1985 to 1990; an assistant U.S.
attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of
Missouri in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1990 to 2004; a partner in Husch
Blackwell in St. Louis from 2004 to 2010; and assistant chief counsel in
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Northwestern Division in Portland,
Oregon, from 2012 to 2019. He is remembered for his love of Army
football, St. Louis Cardinals baseball, and family and friends. Flachs
is survived by his wife of 17 years, Lorraine Flachs; son, Sean P.
Flachs; daughters, Angie M. Rock, Karen Terry, Tami Percifull, and Kelly
Berger; brother, Michael T. Flachs Sr. (Maureen); 12 grandchildren; and
three great-grandchildren.
Herbert David Everitt
Everitt,
80, of Fort Worth, died September 26, 2022. He received his law degree
from South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in
1990. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve. Everitt was a
sales representative and a Texas regional manager for Bancroft-Whitney
Law Publishers, and a criminal defense lawyer for 36 years. He is
remembered for being a kind man with a huge heart. Everitt is survived
by his wife, Susan; son, Mark; and stepsons, Derek Heck, Mat Heck, and
Butch Heck.
Bill J. Zimmerman
Zimmerman,
90, of Fort Worth, died July 27, 2022. He received his law degree from
the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and was admitted to the
Texas Bar in 1974. Zimmerman served in the U.S. Army from 1955 to 1957.
He was also a member of the Colorado, Oklahoma, California, and New York
State bars. Zimmerman was an attorney with Seaboard Oil Company in
Dallas from 1953 to 1958; held various positions with Shell Oil Company
from 1958 to 1976; senior group counsel with NL Industries in Houston
from 1976 to 1977; associate general counsel to the Kerr-McGee
Corporation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from 1977 to 1980; vice
president and general counsel to the Superior Oil Company in Houston
from 1980 to 1983; vice president and general counsel to Union Pacific
Resources Company, previously Champlin Petroleum, in Fort Worth from
1983 to 1996; and of counsel to Cantey & Hanger from 1996 to 2000.
He was a former chair of the State Bar of Texas Corporate Counsel
Section; former director of the American Corporate Counsel Association;
and member of several boards at Southern Methodist University, including
the Alumni Board, Law School Advisory Board, Mustang Club Board, and
Lettermen’s Club as president. Zimmerman is remembered as a swimmer at
SMU, having been a member of the swim team that won the Southwest
Conference championship for the first time; playing trumpet in dance
bands in high school and college; and a frustrated golfer who drove a
golf cart sporting SMU red ponies to play with his Texas Christian
University friends at Shady Oaks Country Club. He is survived by his
wife of 41 years, Patsy Cantrell Zimmerman; son, Kurt R. Zimmerman;
daughters, Julie Zimmerman Zorn and Jennifer Zimmerman Stevens; eight
grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren.
Michael J. Thompson Sr.
Thompson, 85,
of El Paso, died August 19, 2022. He received his law degree from the
University of Texas School of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in
1961. Thompson was assistant district attorney of El Paso County from
1960 to 1965, in private practice in El Paso County from 1965 to 1967,
an associate of Huff & Bowers in Lubbock from 1967 to 1970, owner of
Mike Thompson & Associates in El Paso from 1970 to 1980, assistant
city attorney and El Paso Police legal adviser from 1980 to 1986, and an
appointed family law judge (IV-D Master) in El Paso County from 1986 to
2003. He was a member of a State Bar of Texas Pattern Jury Charges
committee, and president of the West Texas Trial Lawyers Association.
Thompson is remembered as an active mentor, coach, and spectator of his
brilliant son; an active runner and marathon survivor; and his
infectious sense of humor, which he often noted got funnier after he was
appointed to the bench. He is survived by his son, attorney, Michael
Thompson Jr. (Cindy); and three grandchildren; and six
great-grandchildren.
Susan R. Richardson
Richardson, 75, of Midland, died August 23, 2022. She
received her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and
was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1976. Richardson was an attorney with
the Office of the Texas Attorney General under Attorney General John
Hill in 1976; an employment law and oil and gas litigator with Gulf Oil
from 1977 to 1985; and an associate of Cotton Bledsoe Tighe & Dawson
in Midland from 1985 to 1988 and shareholder from 1989 to 2015. She was
certified in oil, gas, and mineral law and labor and employment law by
the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, chaired the very first Oil, Gas
and Energy Pattern Jury Charge Committee as well as the State Bar of
Texas Oil, Gas and Energy Section, and was honored by the Women’s Energy
Network of the Permian Basin in 2017. Richardson is remembered for her
and her husband sharing their lives with their horses and Boston
terriers, Boots, Deuce, Amos, and Andy, as well as many cats along the
way, including the last pair, Bonnie and Clyde; enjoying cruises to
Alaska, special trips with friends to New York City, and an extended
trip to Switzerland in addition to owning a two-acre campsite outside of
Cloudcroft, New Mexico, where her husband spent many happy days riding
his quarter horse in the Lincoln National Forest; and for truly loving
the law and believing practicing law at Cotton Bledsoe Tighe &
Dawson was one of the most profound blessings in her life. She is
survived by her spouse, Reuben Richardson; brother, Edward Rafferty; and
sisters, Nancy Rafferty and Colleen Rafferty.
Paul Francis Seiler
Seiler, 72, of
San Antonio, died October 11, 2022. He received his law degree from
Duquesne University School of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in
1982. Seiler was an attorney with Winstead, McGuire, Sechrest &
Minick from 1981 to 1990, a partner in Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn
in Houston from 1990 to 1993, a founding partner in Seiler, Cohn &
Stebbins in Houston from 1993 to 1997, owner of the Seiler Law Firm from
June 1997 to November 1997, shareholder in McGuire, Craddock &
Strother in Dallas from December 1997 to December 1998; a shareholder in
Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr in Dallas from 1999 to 2018, and a
shareholder in Winstead in Dallas from 2018 to 2019. He was a member of
the Texas Bar College. Seiler is remembered as a dedicated and
accomplished attorney; avid reader; and loving husband, father,
grandfather, and great-grandfather. Seiler is survived by his wife of 49
years, Barbara Seiler; sons, attorneys Robert Francis Seiler and Carl
Ulrich Seiler; daughter, Reina Seiler Burnett; brothers, retired
attorney Francis Scott Seiler, Eric Louis Seiler, and R. Kirk Seiler;
sister, Catherine Carlson; four grandchildren; and one
great-grandchild.
Charles Nelson Cartwright
Cartwright, 89, of Beeville, died August 19, 2022. He
received his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and
was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1960. Cartwright served in the military
from 1956 to 1964. He an assistant city attorney in Corpus Christi from
1960 to 1963, an associate of Utter, Chase, Cartwright & Bennett in
Corpus Christi from 1964 to 1967 and a partner in the firm from 1967 to
1973, a firm member in Howard, McDowell & Cartwright in Corpus
Christi from 1973 to 1976, a partner in Pritchard, Peeler, Cartwright
& Hall in Corpus Christi from 1976 to 1996, a senior partner in
Peeler & Cartwright in Corpus Christi from 1996 to 2015, and a
senior partner in Peeler, Cartwright & Mann in Corpus Christi from
2015 to 2017. Cartwright was a member of the American Bar Association
from 1972 to 1978, vice president of the Nueces County Bar Association
from 1974 to 1975 and president of the bar from 1975 to 1976, and a life
fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. He is remembered for being ethical,
honorable, and trustworthy; collecting guns, coins, and stamps; and
enjoying camping, gardening, and touring historic places. Cartwright is
survived by his wife of 20 years, Nora R. Cartwright; son, Charles Rea
Cartwright; stepson, Christopher J. Ulmer; and two step-granddaughters.
Alex Bill III
Bill, 52, of Baytown, died August 14, 2022. He received his law degree from South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 2008. Bill served in the U.S. Army. He was owner of the Law Office of Alex Bill III. He is survived by Christina Kelli Ferreira-Bill and son, John Alex Isaac Ferreira-Bill.
Mary-Ann Bellatti
Bellatti, 77, of Houston, died August 5, 2022. She received her law degree from South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1987. Bellatti was an attorney with the Social Security Administration; Sheinfeld, Maley & Kay in Houston; and the Texas Lawyers’ Insurance Exchange. She is remembered for her love of art, travel, and culture. Bellatti is survived by her sister Rebecca Jane Abbott Schroeder.
Evelyn A. Derrington
Derrington, 60, of Edmond, Oklahoma, died August 11, 2022. She received her law degree from St. Mary’s University School of Law and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1988. Derrington was a law clerk for Richard Orsinger at Heard, Goggan, Blair & Williams in San Antonio in the summers of 1987 and 1988; a briefing attorney for Texas Supreme Court Justices William Kilgarlin and Nathan L. Hecht during the 1988-1989 term; and director of Phillips & Akers, and head of its appellate section, in Houston, from 1992 to 2014. She was the editorial board research/note and comment editor for St. Mary’s Law Journal, a member of the John M. Harlan Honors Society, and certified in civil appellate law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in 1994. Derrington is remembered for being kind and loving, riding horses in her youth and college years, and her passion and gift for law studies. She is survived by her sisters, Carol Johns, Amy Munhall, and Karla Launhardt; and brother, Rick Ailts.TBJ
