Mount Ethereal celebrates July 4th

July 13, 2021

Mount Ethereal resident Otis M. “Bud” Oliver’s professional lifetime was relatively strange due to encompassing each the judicial and legislative fields — serving as a decide and in metropolis federal government — but he was recalled Tuesday as excelling at both equally.

“He was just a good guy,” former Mount Airy Mayor David Rowe said of Oliver, agreeing that this good quality is critical no matter of one’s field of endeavor.

“When I feel of Judge Oliver, I just feel about him becoming a gentleman,” mentioned Jody Mitchell, a Dobson attorney who is president of the Surry County Bar Affiliation.

“I just can’t assume of a superior term for Judge Oliver than gentleman,” Mitchell emphasized pertaining to the retired courtroom formal, who died Monday at his home. Oliver was 83.

“Judge Bud Oliver was one of the finest judicial officers that I have at any time recognised,” mentioned David Beal, a former clerk of Exceptional Courtroom for Surry County who also has served as a law enforcement chief and city commissioner in Mount Airy.

Lots of remember Oliver for his dedicated provider to both the criminal justice and town govt realms after graduating from regulation school at the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I’d like to go back again even farther than that, to when I was a genuine young man,” Rowe claimed in mentioning that his grandparents lived on Grace Street subsequent door to Oliver.

“And he was a soccer hero,” Rowe recalled of Oliver, who played for famous Bears head coach Wallace Shelton in advance of graduating from Mount Ethereal Superior College in 1956. “And I idolized him, and he was extremely great to me.”

Upon earning his law degree, Oliver returned to his hometown to do the job as an attorney for the future 27 decades.

During that time, he also served on the Mount Ethereal Board of Commissioners for nearly 15 many years, masking two various intervals, from December 1969 to December 1973 and December 1979 to November 1990, when Oliver resigned to turn out to be a District Court choose.

Throughout his time on the council, Oliver established a popularity as remaining extremely analytical and considerate in dealing with local challenges.

“I understood him when he was the legal professional for the radio station,” explained a different former Mount Airy mayor, Deborah Cochran, who also loved a very long on-air occupation locally with WSYD. Cochran recalled that Oliver experienced an office environment on Franklin Road.

“He was one particular of the kindest, most mild, most intelligent men I ever fulfilled,” noticed Cochran, who reported the retired judge’s loss of life is “a remarkable loss” for the group.

“I worked with him as an SBI (Point out Bureau of Investigation) agent when he was practising law,” Beal stated, an association that ongoing into the courtroom arena. “When he turned a District Court decide, he was fair, compassionate and type to everyone.”

Oliver served in that ability until 1994, when he was appointed chief District Courtroom judge of the nearby judicial district that consists of Surry County.

He retired in January 2007, immediately after 12 many years of assistance, when he chose not to operate for re-election. All through his tenure as main District Court judge, Oliver served on the Board of Trustees of the North Carolina District Court Judges Affiliation and was awarded the Centennial Award for Professionalism and Services by the North Carolina Bar Affiliation.

“Hundred Dollar Oliver”

Despite the lofty position he held in creating selections affecting the life of those who came into his courtroom, Oliver under no circumstances enable that go to his head with an mindset of ‘I’m the judge, get out of my way,’” in accordance to Beal.

“Judge Oliver constantly experienced a relaxed greeting for you when he initial noticed you,” the former clerk of court docket remembers. “I identified as him ‘Your Grace’ and he would refer to me with just about anything that arrived to his brain.”

Other users of the area lawful neighborhood had a different nickname for Choose Oliver, claimed Mitchell, the community Bar Affiliation president. It was “Hundred Dollar Oliver,” the sum of the wonderful he generally meted out for targeted visitors and other circumstances he presided about.

“That was what some of us known as him,” Mitchell explained.

“I had the satisfaction of showing up in ‘Judge Bud’s’ court for quite a few a long time,” City Attorney Hugh Campbell commented Tuesday.

“As a choose he was usually business but truthful. In man or woman he was a quintessential Southern gentleman — heat, charming, fast-witted, honorable,” Campbell additional. “He carried a sparkle in his eye permitting you know he was engaged.”

“He had a pleased side and a critical facet and that’s what I’ll try to remember about him,” Beal reported of Oliver, but it was all organization when the gavel sounded to commence courtroom classes.

“He ran a quite demanding court docket,” Mitchell agreed.

“Man of character”

But the choose appeared to have a way of on the lookout outside of the mere facts of a legal situation to entirely assess the instances encompassing somebody who was billed with an offense.

“Bud was often from a judicial standpoint, I felt, incredibly compassionate in the cases that he adjudicated,” said Rowe, who also was common with Oliver in yet another portion of existence.

“I realized him really effectively from church,” the former mayor reported of their extensive affiliation at First Baptist of Mount Airy.

That is where a further local resident spent significantly time close to Oliver, a lifelong member of that church, in addition to a lot earlier.

“I’ve recognised him all my lifestyle — we ended up in large university together,” reported Eleanor Brown, the wife of previous metropolis councilman Dean Brown. “We were in Sunday college together, also.”

“Wonderful” was the phrase Mrs. Brown utilised to most effective explain Bud Oliver: “He was a wonderful decide and a excellent Christian.”

“He was a really kind gentleman and he cherished his loved ones, his community and he loved the bar,” Mitchell reported.

Even immediately after his retirement, Oliver continued to go to meetings of the Surry County Bar Association, which Mitchell said impressed him because Oliver very easily could have chosen to shell out his golden many years a further way.

“It was constantly a joy and privilege to talk to him and he will totally be missed.”

Oliver lately experienced well being troubles. “We truly believed he would get much better,” Mrs. Brown claimed.

Beal expressed his family’s condolences to that of Oliver and explained, “I will miss out on him enormously.”

“I think he was exceptionally brilliant,” Cochran stated in summing up the sentiments of a lot of relating to Bud Oliver.

“He was a male of character — terrific character.”

“Bud rightly will be remembered for a lot of contributions made in his general public daily life, but he managed to keep harmony as a devoted husband, father and close friend,” in the check out of Campbell, the town legal professional.

“And in that way he will be missed the most.”