Changes

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 court 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 court 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==

In 1950, DeWitt Methvin married the former Lallah Hill Cunningham (1929-2012), a [[Roman Catholic]]. Her father was the [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] attorney and former state Representative William Peyton Cunningham, Sr (1901-1971).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0094.html|title=William Peyton Cunningham, Sr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref> Her grandfather, Charles Milton Cunningham (1877-1936), was the editor of ''The Natchitoches Times'' [[newspaper]] and a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1915 to 1922.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/index.html|title=Charles Milton Cunningham|publisher=familytreemaker.genealogy.com|accessdate=October 1, 2014}}</ref> Her great grandfather Milton Joseph Cunningham (1842-1916), had been the state attorney general for three terms prior to 1900.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0108.html|title=Milton Joseph Cunningham|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 1, 2014}}</ref>

In 1950, DeWitt Methvin married the former Lallah Hill Cunningham (1929-2012), a [[Roman Catholic]]. Her father was the [[Natchitoches, Louisiana|Natchitoches]] attorney and former state Representative William Peyton Cunningham, Sr (1901-1971).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0094.html|title=William Peyton Cunningham, Sr.|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 7, 2014}}</ref> Her grandfather, Charles Milton Cunningham (1877-1936), was the editor of ''The Natchitoches Times'' [[newspaper]] and a member of the Louisiana State Senate from 1915 to 1922.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/index.html|title=Charles Milton Cunningham|publisher=familytreemaker.genealogy.com|accessdate=October 1, 2014}}</ref> Her great grandfather Milton Joseph Cunningham (1842-1916), had been the state attorney general for three terms prior to 1900.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogy.com/users/m/e/t/Mildred-Methvin/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0108.html|title=Milton Joseph Cunningham|publisher=genealogy.com|accessdate=October 1, 2014}}</ref>