Mr. Pless recently attended a ceremony in the McDowell County, North Carolina courthouse, in the western North Carolina mountains. The ceremony was part of the County’s weeklong observance of its ( and the county seat of Marion’s), 175th birthday. The ceremony honored five judges from the County who had served on North Carolina’s appellate courts, including Mr. Pless’s grandfather, Judge J. Will Pless, Jr., who served as Superior Court judge from 1932-1966 and as a North Carolina Supreme Court Justice from 1966-68. Speakers included current North Carolina Associate Justice James S. Ervin 4th, grandson of the late Senator Sam Ervin of the Watergate committee days. As trial lawyers, Mr. Pless’s great-grandfather J. W. Pless, Sr., along with the Senator’s father, accompanied the judges in “riding the courthouse circuit” by horseback through many mountain counties in the late 1800s, leading to some adventures. The article below details the event, which culminated in the unveiling of a plaque in honor of all five appellate judges. Marion is named after Frances Marion, the “Swamp Fox” of Revolutionary War lore.
For more information, please check out The McDowell News’ coverage of this event. McDowell News