Changes

Returning to McAdoo specifically to run for office, he became at twenty-five the youngest county judge in Texas.<ref name=plaque/> He worked to reduce [[property tax]]es and brought Dickens County on a cash basis for the first time in some fifteen years. During his last year as county judge, Formby was president of the West Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association.<ref name=plaque/>"He loved people and politics. He was for the little guy," said nephew and business partner [[Clint Formby]].​

Returning to McAdoo specifically to run for office, he became at twenty-five the youngest county judge in Texas.<ref name=plaque/> He worked to reduce [[property tax]]es and brought Dickens County on a cash basis for the first time in some fifteen years. During his last year as county judge, Formby was president of the West Texas County Judges and Commissioners Association.<ref name=plaque/>"He loved people and politics. He was for the little guy," said nephew and business partner [[Clint Formby]].​

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In 1937, Judge Formby received a [[Master of Arts]] in journalism  from the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. While at UT, he was a correspondent covering the state legislature for the ''Amarillo Times'' in [[Amarillo]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.depts.ttu.edu/masscom/alumni/halloffame/mformby.php|title=Texas Tech University:College of Mass Communications|publisher=depts..ttu.edu|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

In 1937, Judge Formby received a [[Master of Arts]] in journalism  from the [[University of Texas at Austin]]. While at UT, he was a correspondent covering the state legislature for ''The Amarillo Times'' in [[Amarillo]], the largest city in the Texas Panhandle.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.depts.ttu.edu/masscom/alumni/halloffame/mformby.php|title=Texas Tech University:College of Mass Communications|publisher=depts..ttu.edu|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

Soon a state senator, his legislative service was interrupted by [[World War II]], in which he served in [[Europe]] in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]. He was discharged as a captain. Formby married the former Sharleen Wells (born September 30, 1918), later Sharleen Rhoads of [[Midland]] after Formby's death. The couple, who met in [[Austin]], had two children, Frances Formby Seales of Lubbock (born 1955) and David W. Formby (born 1957) of Plainview, and two grandchildren. A native of Barberton, [[Ohio]], Sharleen graduated as an [[English]] major from a junior college. She married Formby on September 8, 1946, in Seale, [[Alabama]]. (Coincidentally, their daughter married a man named "Seales.") Sharleen taught at the United States Army War College in [[Washington, D.C.]], and later attended graduate school at the [[University of Texas]], at which she studied radio communication. In August 1947, the Formbys moved to Plainview in Hale County north of Lubbock.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txdicken/swcoll.htm|title=Southwest Collection at Texas Tech for Dickens County|publisher=rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

Soon a state senator, his legislative service was interrupted by [[World War II]], in which he served in [[Europe]] in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]. He was discharged as a captain. Formby married the former Sharleen Wells (1918-2010), later Sharleen Rhoads of [[Midland]] after Formby's death. The couple, who met in [[Austin]], had two children, Frances Formby Seales of Lubbock (born 1955) and David W. Formby (born 1957) of Plainview, and two grandchildren. A native of Barberton, [[Ohio]], Sharleen graduated as an [[English]] major from a junior college. She married Formby on September 8, 1946, in Seale, [[Alabama]]. (Coincidentally, their daughter married a man named "Seales.") Sharleen taught at the United States Army War College in [[Washington, D.C.]], and later attended graduate school at the [[University of Texas]], at which she studied radio communication. In August 1947, the Formbys moved to Plainview in Hale County north of Lubbock.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txdicken/swcoll.htm|title=Southwest Collection at Texas Tech for Dickens County|publisher=rootsweb.ancestry.com|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

For a time Formby operated the weekly ''Aspermont Star'' in rural Aspermont in Stonewall County in West Texas and later  ''The Plainview Tribune.'.<ref name=plainview/> In the late 1940s,Formby pursued his [[Juris Doctor]]ate degree, which he received in 1951 from [[Baylor University]] Law School in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas.<ref name=formby>{{cite web|url= http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00098/tsw-00098.html|title=Marshall Formby: An Inventory of His Papers, 1883-1989 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library|publisher=lib.utexas.edu|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

For a time Formby operated the weekly ''Aspermont Star'' in rural Aspermont in Stonewall County in West Texas and later  ''The Plainview Tribune.'.<ref name=plainview/> In the late 1940s,Formby pursued his [[Juris Doctor]]ate degree, which he received in 1951 from [[Baylor University]] Law School in [[Waco, Texas|Waco]], Texas.<ref name=formby>{{cite web|url= http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/ttusw/00098/tsw-00098.html|title=Marshall Formby: An Inventory of His Papers, 1883-1989 and undated, at the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library|publisher=lib.utexas.edu|accessdate=December 18, 2009}}</ref>​

===1962 gubernatorial campaign===

===1962 gubernatorial campaign===

From 1967 to 1971, he was a member of the Texas Tech regents under original appointment of Governor [[John Connally|John B. Connally, Jr.]] In 1962, Formby had been among the intra-party rivals defeated by Connally for the Democratic [[Governor|gubernatorial]] nomination. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' termed Formby "a [[conservative]]" in the primary contest but did not elaborate on what were his slim chances of winning the nomination. The other contestants were sitting Governor Marion Price Daniel, Sr., who sought an unprecedented fourth two-year term; Don Yarborough, a [[liberal]] lawyer and supporter of [[organized labor]] from [[Houston, Texas|Houston]]; former [[Attorney General]] [[Will Wilson]], later a Republican convert, and retired Army [[General]] Edwin Anderson Walker (1909-1993) of Dallas, known for his staunch [[Communism|anti-communism]]. Connally went on to defeat the Republican Jack Cox, himself a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives in West Texas and then an oil-equipment executive in Houston.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896085,00.html|title=Nation: Talking in Texas|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'|date=April 22, 1962|accessdate=November 18, 2019; under pay wall}}</ref><ref>

From 1967 to 1971, he was a member of the Texas Tech regents under original appointment of Governor [[John Connally|John B. Connally, Jr.]] In 1962, Formby had been among the intra-party rivals defeated by Connally for the Democratic [[Governor|gubernatorial]] nomination. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' termed Formby "a [[conservative]]" in the primary contest but did not elaborate on what were his slim chances of winning the nomination. The other contestants were sitting Governor Marion Price Daniel, Sr., who sought an unprecedented fourth two-year term; Don Yarborough, a [[liberal]] lawyer and supporter of [[organized labor]] from [[Houston, Texas|Houston]]; former state Attorney General [[Will Wilson]], later a Republican convert, and retired Army [[General]] Edwin Anderson Walker (1909-1993) of Dallas, known for his staunch [[Communism|anti-communism]]. Connally went on to defeat the Republican Jack Cox, himself a former Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives in West Texas and then an oil-equipment executive in Houston.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,896085,00.html|title=Nation: Talking in Texas|publisher=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'|date=April 22, 1962|accessdate=November 18, 2019; under pay wall}}</ref><ref>

Two other former state highway directors who lost gubernatorial races during this period of history were [[Fred Preaus]] in [[Louisiana]] in 1956 and Henry Ward in [[Kentucky]] in 1967.</ref> John Connally, meanwhile, served three two-year terms as governor from 1963 to 1969, the only office to which he was ever elected.​

Two other former state highway directors who lost gubernatorial races during this period of history were [[Fred Preaus]] in [[Louisiana]] in 1956 and Henry Ward in [[Kentucky]] in 1967.</ref> John Connally, meanwhile, served three two-year terms as governor from 1963 to 1969, the only office to which he was ever elected.​