06/16/2023
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!
This is my Dad, Oscar LaBarre. This picture was taken in 1952, so I’ll let you guess who he’s holding. Don’t ask me to explain the hat. I can’t. I've never been a hat person. The only thing I can figure is that it was my Mother’s idea.
My Dad was a lawyer and a judge in Vicksburg, MS, for over 40 years. In many ways he was stereotypical of his day. Many of you could share the same kind of story about your father. The only child of an only child, raised during the depression, he graduated high school in 1941 and went off to college only to have his college career interrupted by service in World War II. In 1945 he mustered out of the army, returned to Mississippi and finished college at Ole Miss on the GI bill. He went to work in Memphis, married my Mother and I guess he thought that his course was pretty much set. But Mama, as she so often did, had other ideas. She said, "Oscar, you have some GI bill left and I don’t think your job as a credit manager is really what you want to do for the rest of your life. I think you ought to go to law school." So, of course, he did. And, of course, it turned out Mama was right.
After law school he came back to Vicksburg, opened a practice, built a home (which my Mama still owns), raised four children, became well respected in his profession, his church and his community, and generally did what was expected of respectable and responsible men in the 50’s and 60’s.
I had the privilege of practicing law with him for 11 years before I felt a call to the ministry of music. He influenced me in ways that I am still discovering. His wisdom, his integrity and his sense of humor have stayed with me and become part of who I am. I miss him every day and I thank God for every moment I spent with him.
