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{{Infobox person  

{{Infobox person  

|name=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.

|name=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.

Mary Ceil Methvin<br>

Mary Ceil Methvin<br>

Parents:<br>

Parents:<br>

DeWitt, Sr., and MyrtisLucille Gregory Methvin

DeWitt, Sr., and Myrtis Lucille Gregory Methvin  

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]

|party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]

|religionn=[[Roman Catholic]]

|religionn=[[Roman Catholic]]

}}

}}

'''DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr. (November 7, 1924 &ndash; September 26, 2005), was a prominent [[attorney]] in his native [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]].

'''DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr. (November 7, 1924 &ndash; September 26, 2005), was a prominent [[attorney]] in his native [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], [[Louisiana]].

==Background==

==Background==

At the age of fifteen and a half, DeWitt, Jr., enrolled at [[Louisiana State University]] in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge] to study medicine. With the intervention of [[World War II]], he enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] at the age of eighteen and earned pilot's wings. He taught naval aviation at several locations from [[Rochester]], [[New York]], to [[Oakland]], [[California]]. He was discharged from the military in 1946 and returned to LSU to study pre-law, not to complete the medical degree in which he had lost interest. Instead he graduated in 1950 from the LSU Law Center, at which he won the moot cour] competition in each of his three years of law school.<ref name=dtmjrbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0001.html|title=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>

At the age of fifteen and a half, DeWitt, Jr., enrolled at [[Louisiana State University]] in the capital city of [[Baton Rouge] to study medicine. With the intervention of [[World War II]], he enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] at the age of eighteen and earned pilot's wings. He taught naval aviation at several locations from [[Rochester]], [[New York]], to [[Oakland]], [[California]]. He was discharged from the military in 1946 and returned to LSU to study pre-law, not to complete the medical degree in which he had lost interest. Instead he graduated in 1950 from the LSU Law Center, at which he won the moot cour] competition in each of his three years of law school.<ref name=dtmjrbio>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0001.html|title=DeWitt Talmage Methvin, Jr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>

===Legal career===

===Legal career===

Methvin settled in Alexandria, not only because he had  been born there, but he determined that there was a greater need for lawyers in Rapides Parish than in other locations which he may have considered settling. Soon, he was active in legal and civic circles: assistant [[district attorney]] from 1953 to 1955, president of the Junior Chamber International at the age of thirty-one in 1955, and president of the Alexandria Bar Association from 1963 to 1964. He practiced with, among other lawyers, Howard  Battle Gist, Jr. (1919-2011), who was prior to 1973 the Alexandria city attorney in three mayoral administrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetowntalk/obituary.aspx?pid=153189963|title=Howard Battle Gist, Jr.|publisher=''The Alexandria Town Talk''|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>Methvin was known for his brief and poignant cross-examinations in the courtroom. He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. From 1972 to 1981, he was the first chairman of the Louisiana Board of Ethics for Elected Officials.<ref name=dtmjrbio/> One of the firm's legal secretaries, Jackie Pope Adams (1922-2013), a native of Columbia in Marion County, [[Mississippi]], was the secretary to the Alexandria City Council and the city clerk after adoption of the [[home rule]] charter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Adams&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScnty=1119&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=117861387&df=all&|title=Jackie Pope Adams|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>

Methvin settled in Alexandria, not only because he had  been born there, but he determined that there was a greater need for lawyers in Rapides Parish than in other locations which he may have considered settling. Soon, he was active in legal and civic circles: assistant [[district attorney]] from 1953 to 1955, president of the Junior Chamber International at the age of thirty-one in 1955, and president of the Alexandria Bar Association from 1963 to 1964. He practiced with, among other lawyers, Howard  Battle Gist, Jr. (1919-2011), who was prior to 1973 the Alexandria city attorney in three mayoral administrations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetowntalk/obituary.aspx?pid=153189963|title=Howard Battle Gist, Jr.|publisher=''The Alexandria Town Talk''|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>Methvin was known for his brief and poignant cross-examinations in the courtroom. He was a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers. From 1972 to 1981, he was the first chairman of the Louisiana Board of Ethics for Elected Officials.<ref name=dtmjrbio/> One of the firm's legal secretaries, Jackie Pope Adams (1922-2013), a native of Columbia in Marion County, [[Mississippi]], was the secretary to the Alexandria City Council and the city clerk after adoption of the [[home rule]] charter.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Adams&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=20&GScnty=1119&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=117861387&df=all&|title=Jackie Pope Adams|publisher=Findagrave.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref>

===Personal life===

===Personal life===

DeWitt and Lallah Methvin divorced. She relocated to Shreveport and upon her death was interred in the Cunningham plot at Catholic Cemetery in Natchitoches. Methvin married the former Frances Phillips (born October 1941), who survives him.<ref name=dtmjrbio/>Prior to his death of a heart attack, Methvin was in the process of closing his practice after fifty-five years.<ref name=dtmjrbio/>  

DeWitt and Lallah Methvin divorced. She relocated to Shreveport and upon her death was interred in the Cunningham plot at Catholic Cemetery in Natchitoches. Methvin married the former Frances Phillips (born October 1941), who survives him.<ref name=dtmjrbio/>Prior to his death of a heart attack, Methvin was in the process of closing his practice after fifty-five years.<ref name=dtmjrbio/>  

His services were held at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Alexandria; he is interred beside a sister, Doris Beverly Methvin Warren, and brother-in-law, William Melvin Warren, at the New Ebenezer Cemetery in Castor.<ref name=dtmjrbio/> His parents are interred at the Gwin Cemetery in  Mangham in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana, where the Methvins lived years earlier.

His services were held at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Alexandria; he is interred beside a sister, Doris Beverly Methvin Warren, and brother-in-law, William Melvin Warren, at the New Ebenezer Cemetery in Castor.<ref name=dtmjrbio/> His parents are interred at the Gwin Cemetery in  Mangham in Richland Parish in northeastern Louisiana, where the had lived years earlier.

[[Category:Attorneys]]

[[Category:Attorneys]]

[[Category:Democrats]]

[[Category:Democrats]]

[[Category:Roman Catholics]]

[[Category:Catholics]]

[[Category:United States Navy]]

[[Category:United States Navy]]

[[Category:World War II]]

[[Category:World War II]]