Remembering Reed Lockhoof

A wonderful rememberance of Reed Lockhoof written by one of his colleagues in the Texas Attorney General's office was printed in the November, 2008, "Office of the Attorney General Employee Newsletter". Sadly, many of us did not have the opportunity to get to know Reed and his family after we graduated from high school. This remembrance is a beautiful window into Reed's life as he became a husband, father, and lawyer. We are honored to have been given permission to share Reed's story with all of our readers, Reed's classmates from the CHS Class of 1963.

The article is reprinted here without the accompanying photos. Howver, the actual newsletter article along with photos can be viewed in pdf format which we are unable to publish here. If you would like to have access to the pdf format, email Nicki

O f f i c e o f t h e A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l Emp l o y e e

Newsl e t t e r •

G r e g A b b o t t A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l o f T e x a s

Remembering Reed Lockhoof

On September 27, 2008, the state's law enforcement community lost one of its fiercest advocates when Reed Lockhoof, Assistant Attorney General with the Law Enforcement Defense Division for over 30 years, passed away unexpectedly. With much appreciated assistance from his gracious wife Nancy, both current and former co-workers, and many close friends, we share a few of our many wonderful memories and experiences with a truly remarkable man.

Reed was born and raised in Childress, Texas, a small panhandle town between Wichita Falls and Amarillo. His father had been a bombardier pilot and had trained pilots for WWII at the Army airfield in Childress. His grandfather was also a pilot and established Lockhoof Air Port in the 1920s. Reed would later continue the family interest in flying and had actually obtained an appointment to the Air Force Academy before learning that his size and color blindness would prohibit him from becoming an Air Force pilot. While Reed was growing up, his father managed a local department store and later became involved in politics, becoming a city councilman and mayor of Childress. His tenacity and leadership skills would rub off on his young son. Sometime around the age of 13, Reed discovered the game of golf and developed a passion for the sport that he would maintain for the rest of his life. In fact, over the years, golf would occupy so much of his time, that he referred to it as his "fickle mistress!" In his senior year of high school, the Childress H.S. Golf Team won the state championship at Austin's Muny Golf Course as Reed took third overall. He would later walk on and play with NTSU's golf team and won the Texas Tech Law School's Golf Tourney in freezing rain. As far as Reed was concerned, every day was a good day for golf!

Reed was a very studious sort in his school days and was acknowledged by his peers as being one of the most intelligent people they knew. His high school English teacher still remembers how bright he was and recalls that he almost always had that "Cheshire Cat" grin on his face - as if he was aware of something no-one else was! He said that he played a few pickup basketball games against Reed, calling him a "gentle giant," as he towered over most others but wasn't nearly as physically aggressive as he could have been, which Mr. Morris truly
appreciated! He said he had a feeling about Reed even then, that Reed would grow up to be a "good man." Mr. Morris could not have been more prophetic.

One thing about Reed that just about everyone who ever met him will tell you is that he had an infectious laugh. When you heard it, you just had to laugh with him! (And if you didn't hear him laugh, it meant that you were nowhere in the vicinity, because it was definitely a "hearty" laugh!) In fact, Reed's laugh led to his own self proscribed "greatest achievement" - meeting his lovely wife, Nancy. Nancy grew up in the even smaller town of Hamlin, Texas, approximately 100 miles from Childress, and she was a year behind Reed in school. Of course, 100 miles away in the 1960s might as well have been across the country as today's technology wasn't even being dreamed of yet. This is where fate and destiny created yet another divine intervention. They both happened to be on the Student Councils of their respective schools and were attending a state meeting in Houston. At the conclusion of the meeting, a dinner/dance was held, during which Nancy "happened" to hear Reed's bellowinglaughter from across the room. She decided she just had to meet the source of such glee and made it a point to do so!
So began a love affair that evolved into a lasting marriage of 43 years producing son "Flip," who became Reed's best buddy and golf partner in over 150 tournaments.

After graduation from high school, and unable to attend the Air Force Academy as previously mentioned, Reed enrolled at North Texas State in Denton. Nancy followed a year later, and they were married in 1965. Reed had known for quite sometime that he wanted to be a lawyer. Aware of his keen wit and ability to argue any point, even his high school friends agree he was "destined to practice law." He graduated from NTSU early, then pondered where he would attend law school. He was interested in UT but preferred a smaller classroom setting. He
heard that Texas Tech was organizing a law school but it wasn't open yet, so Reed and Nancy headed to Lubbock to set up house and wait for them. Reed worked at a little nine hole par 3 golf course called "Treasure Island," where a lighted course allowed for night golf! Nancy, in the meantime, became pregnant with Flip, Tech's law school opened and Reed was admitted to the very first class! A very busy time for the young Lockhoof family! As anyone who has attended law school or lived with someone who did can attest, that first year is pretty chaotic without the added distractions of a young wife and a brand new baby! Reed was a little disappointed when he discovered that all 72 members of that first Tech Law School class would be attending classes together as he had hoped for smaller classroom numbers, but again, he persevered, even though classes were held in an old Army barracks. Reed (and his new family) not only survived law school, he conquered the Bar exam with the fifth highest score in the state!

Soon afterward, he took his first job as an attorney in public service with the Wichita County District Attorney's Office. He loved the work, but after only a year, Nancy was presented with a job offer from the Travis County Extension Service. She originally turned it down, not wanting Reed to have to leave his new job, but he didn't want her to miss out on a great opportunity, so they packed up and moved to Austin. This act of selflessness eventually proved to be a huge benefit for the citizens of Texas, particularly for our law enforcement officers. Reed tried his hand at private practice for a short time but soon discovered that chasing cases was not his strong suit. John Hill was the AG at the time, and he offered Reed a job in Law Enforcement Defense (LED). He quickly accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. Contemplating his future after working in LED for a few years, he advised Nancy that he really, really enjoyed what he was doing and asked if she thought it would be okay for him to stay, with the realization that they would never be very wealthy. In true Lockhoof fashion, Nancy answered "that's not why I married you!" and "of course, you can stay!"

Over the years, Reed honed his courtroom style much like one of the knives in his prized collection. He had a sharp wit and an uncanny ability to reduce boxes of research, reports, discovery and pleadings to a very simple issue, the base on which he developed a trial strategy. He absolutely loved doing courtroom demonstrations, much to the chagrin of many a judge. If he could find a way to work one in, he would, and would often have to convince the judge that it was critical to his case. He understood that juries have a tendency to get bored with testimony and that a good demonstration could get them on the edge of their seats to help them understand why an officer may have been forced to do something that, on the surface, appeared to be overly reactive.

Once, in an attempt to show how quickly an officer can be forced to react, Reed grabbed Karen Matlock's brand new Dooney Bourke purse and slammed it into the court reporter's desk, scaring everyone and garnering an admonishment from the judge. He was never afraid to go to jail for his client, provoking many in the office to ask him if his toothbrush was packed when he was called to the judge's chamber!

LED AAG David Harris recalls a DPS case in Houston that was brought by a lawyer who had been arrested for DWI along with his 3 passengers. Because the trooper had already used both sets of handcuffs, he used the plastic flex cuffs on the other two, including the lawyer, who testified that his skull had been fractured by the trooper because he had mouthed off to him and the trooper retaliated. The trooper testified that the lawyer, who was seated behind him in the patrol car, reached over his head, choking the trooper with the plastic cuffs and forcing the trooper to grab his long handled flashlight to strike at him over his shoulder. The judge clearly didn't believe the trooper as he interrupted his testimony and stated that there was no way the trooper could have fractured someone's skull swinging at him in such a fashion. It appeared to those observing that the jury was in agreement with the judge. During his closing argument, Reed took the flashlight from the evidence table and began walking backward toward the court's blackboard while recounting the incident. Suddenly, he swung the flashlight over his shoulder as the trooper had described, striking the blackboard with a WHACK! The judge jumped up screaming that Reed had better not have broken that blackboard! He did, drawing more ire from the judge, and had to pay for it, but the jury took one look at the large crack in the board and found for the trooper! This is but one example of many where Reed used shock value to persuade a jury that law enforcement officers are faced with critical situations in which they do not have time to consult the policy and procedure manual in order to save the lives of themselves or others.

Another situation occurred in a trial where a university student sued a trooper alleging that he had lost the use of his arms and hands for several months because the officer tightened the cuffs too far. It was obvious that the case hinged on the question of "how tight is too tight?" Reed had the officer put the cuffs on him and then told him to tighten them as tight as he could. Then he told him to lock them tighter still. Once the officer proclaimed that he could not get them any tighter, Reed paraded around the courtroom showing everyone he was still able to move his arms and hands in no apparent pain. The verdict came back for the trooper with Reed keeping his bruised and bleeding wrists under the table!

Reed's demeanor in the office is legendary. He seemed to know something about any subject that came up and usually had a personal experience to relate to it. He was used as a sounding board by countless division employees, many of whom thought of him as the "Dad" they couldn't tell such things to. Reed never really caught on to the current trend of "political correctness." He was actually more of an aberration from the term, but in a refreshing kind of way that probably would not make sense to those who didn't know him. He once told an attorney (who was seven months pregnant) that she should really stay away from the cake and ice cream, that "Karen" only gained 20 pounds during her pregnancy, and that she should really watch it! If anyone else had said it, they might be pushing up daisies, but the attorney remembers being endeared by the comment as a token that she "had arrived!" You generally had to have a little tenure to become the brunt of one of Reed's "comments," and to his credit, he could take it as well as he could dish it out. If you knew Reed, you would know that this particular circumstance was a perfect example of the "pot calling the kettle black!" In an age where people are generally fearful of offending others, if Reed thought there was any area at all in your life that could be improved upon, he would not hesitate to let you know, but he would also tell you how to do it!

He was a creature of habit, showing up every morning with his usual cinnamon roll and Coca-Cola for breakfast, greeting everyone with his own nicknames for them, and later heading back downstairs to K.T.'s for the lunch special and another Coke. Every Christmas, he gave everyone on the staff a "pumpkin roll," a delicacy we each treasured and coveted. Anytime someone's child was selling something for school, he was a willing donor. Many of us still carry a pocketknife he gave us, complete with a knife sharpening demonstration and sometimes a whetstone to boot!

At trial, he always knew where to get the best local fare and liked to load up onchange for his "pocket distraction." When opposing counsel got up to speak, the pocket would start jingling with his mixture of change, paper clips, and any other metal objectshe could rustle up. When co-counsel spoke, the pocket was quiet, leading fellow AAGs to sometimes ask him "if the pocket was ready" before trial. Reed would just get that "cheshire cat" grin on his face and give it a jingle!

One of the areas Reed excelled at giving advice was his medical "expertise," using the "expert" term loosely but not fully in jest, as he had likely, at one time or another, experienced any medical malady you had had. The thing is, he was always right in telling you the best way to treat it, whether it be a pulled muscle, a sore tooth, a bum knee, or some off the wall disease a normal layperson (and some doctors) had never heard of. As Karen Matlock said, he was "a counselor, therapist, doctor and legal consultant to all who dared enter his office," a place veteran LEDDers called "Reed's World." Reed's World was not an "orderly" office for a man who seemed to always have his thoughts together. In fact, a former division chief would have his legal assistant clear the mound of paper, files, and law books off his desk when he was scheduled to be out of the office for a few days. This was a chore not to be relished, as it would be the only time he couldn't find what he wanted upon his return and would let the staff know about it! His chair was probably 20 years old when he first sat in it, and he refused to give it up as he claimed, "it fits me just right," even though it looked like it had been run over by a freight train and dragged several miles.

He never really took to researching via Westlaw, preferring "book copies," but he did finally learn to send email, a practice he often used to publicly torment his favorite co-workers. We loved him for it though! Reed was also the division's personal librarian. He, aptly enough, loved to "read" and his appetite for paperback books was voracious,although he called them "pocketbooks." If you saw him walking down the hall, you would realize why, as he always
had one stuffed in his back pocket. Reed's World had a bookcase where he kept books he had finished, and everyone knew they could find something good to read there. If you were a frequent visitor, he knew your style and would correctly point you to a book you would surely enjoy.

Reed always took the time to truly know a person, everything about them. At his service, his friend Rox Covert spoke. Rox is among the fourth of now five generations of Coverts who have been selling vehicles to Central Texas families for just shy of 100 years. Rox told a story about Reed's 25+ year membership at Austin Country Club. Apparently, Reed liked to hang out at the driving range waiting for members to show up. He would greet them warmly, then start going through their golf bag, picking up each and every club, perhaps admonishing them if their grooves weren't clean, but always checking to see if they had gotten a new golf club. That is "classic Reed" and exemplifies the kind of memory he had. Reed bought several cars from Rox over the years for himself and his family, but if it was for himself, you can bet it was sporty, probably red, and had plenty of power! Rox said Reed didn't really drive fast but he loved speed and anything with 2 doors!

Reed thoroughly enjoyed sharing his infinite experiences and wisdom with others, especially young lawyers. He taught them how to read cases, making sure they didn't just know what the case said, but what it meant, and how that meaning related to the issue in the case they were using it for. Perhaps the most important lesson Reed preached was that a lawyer's credibility was the one thing they had that must be protected at any cost. Karen Matlock says that the
competitiveness of law school tends to teach students to be adversarial in theirrepresentation of their clients, making it difficult for her to change the way she practiced. However, she eventually realized that Reed's way of cooperating with opposing counsel in most instances reduces the stress level and allows a case to proceed to trial, or settlement in some situations, much smoother without reducing an attorney's effectiveness. Complete honesty with the Court was a rule Reed never broke, earning him the reputation of being one of the most ethical lawyers in the state.

Reed's tireless efforts and easy going style kept his clients at ease during the stressful course of their lawsuits, especially during jury trials. His ability to transform a case with problematic facts into favorable verdicts and opinions salvaged many an officer's career. Former DPS narcotics officer David Eldridge said, "Reed was a true friend to law enforcement and a legend in the
Attorney General's Office. He had a huge reputation in state law enforcement circles as being on the "A" team of the AG's Office because he was usually assigned the most difficult and complex cases." Vance Wallace of Texas Parks and Wildlife commented that he "appreciated the comfort, knowledge and experience that Reed offered" and that Reed "was a colorful man of character led by a divine guiding light."

LED Division Chief David Talbot says he was honored to know Reed for more than 30 years, working with him personally for the last five. "He was a passionate litigator who represented the interests of the State of Texas with zeal and excellence, and always with the highest ethical standards. His impact on Texas law, and especially administrative law (in which Reed was Board Certified), cannot be measured. Reed was also an invaluable mentor to our young lawyers, many of whom cut their teeth in the courtroom under Reed's tutelage, and he was a trusted and respected colleague to me, and to our entire division. Reed was always willing and able to share the wealth of his knowledge, his experience, his humor, and insight with all of us. He will be
greatly missed in LEDD."

Yes, Mr. Morris, he "grew up" to be a very good man!

@Work Contributor
Mark Holloway