When Jim Paxton organized the San Benito County Bar Association,
he made up 20 percent of the membership.
When Jim Paxton organized the San Benito County Bar Association, he made up 20 percent of the membership.
“That was many years ago,” the Hollister attorney said with a smile. “I doubt that I could do it today.”
James MacLaine Paxton, the only child of Jerry and Ruth Tipton Paxton, was born in Oakland on Nov. 26, 1927.
His father worked for wholesale paper companies, and he, his wife and son lived in communities throughout the Pacific Northwest wherever his occupation took him, including Eugene and Portland, Ore., Spokane, Wash., and Lewiston, Idaho.
Young Jim Paxton was a Cub Scout and Boy Scout and while at Lewiston High School in Spokane where he participated in football and track. He also played baseball and liked to read.
Paxton grew up during the Depression and had just passed his 14th birthday when a Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor hurled the United States into World War II. He graduated from high school in 1945 while the war was still raging in the Pacific.
By the time he entered the University of Idaho at Moscow that fall, two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had compelled the Japanese government to sue for peace.
Paxton completed his freshman year and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served at Fort Knox, Ky., then was assigned to Los Alamos, N.M., with the Corps of Engineers. He held a clerical position and was given a security clearance.
In December 1947 Paxton was the first soldier in the 5th U.S. Army to return to school. He transferred to Stanford Law School after completing his junior year.
And his graduating class of 1952 was notable for being the only one in American history to produce two future members of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, now Chief Justice of the United States, and Sandra Day, now Sandra Day O’Connor.
Paxton was sworn to the California bar on Feb. 11, 1953.
“It hardly seems 50 years have passed so rapidly,” he said.
His first job in his new profession saw him working for the Santa Cruz County District Attorney June Borina.
“She was the first woman district attorney in California,” Paxton said, “and was very professional in her approach to her duties.”
A friend suggested that he accompany him on a double date and introduced him to Mary O’Donnell of Hollister who was spending part of the summer at her family’s house in Capitola.
They found each other interesting and the date led to others. They were married on April 30, 1955.
The first five years of their life together were spent in Redwood City where their two sons, Mark and Craig, were born. In September 1960, the family came to Hollister where Paxton entered the firm of Wyckoff, Parker, Boyle and Pope.
Soon after, he talked to the county’s other attorneys Chester Ross, John O’Brien, John Coughlin and Frank Borelli about forming a local bar association, with Ross as president and O’Brien as vice president.
“There are many more attorneys now,” he said.
Paxton and Coughlin were partners for 38 years, until the latter moved to San Francisco with wife Margaret in 1998.
Paxton liked his adopted community from the start and immersed himself in it. He and his wife took an interest in their sons’ education and activities, and Paxton became a member of the Hollister School District’s board of trustees and served as president three times during his 10 years.
Paxton also was president of the county Chamber of Commerce, was an officer in the Hollister Elks Lodge and a member of the Hollister Rotary Club board.
In the meantime, he played “a lot of tennis” at Ridgemark Golf and Country Club, and enjoyed golf.
He and his wife traveled to many parts of the world, including the British Isles and Europe, and they also took cruises to Japan and Korea.
“Among the most enjoyable features of traveling is getting to meet many people,” Paxton said.
The family was close and its members often enjoyed each other’s company at the house in Capitola.
Paxton represented Justice Maurice Dooling in a case involving a contested will before the California Supreme Court and also appeared before that body for the Hollister Convalescent Hospital.
He and his wife took much delight in their sons’ families. Mark and Craig Paxton married sisters Mary and Anne Gabriel, respectively, and each couple have two daughters.
“They’re wonderful girls,” grandfather Paxton said.
As the millennium hurried to a close, he had the respect of the community and had served it in many ways. On April 1, 2000, his law firm merged with that of John O’Brien’s to become Paxton and O’Brien. Its other members are Frank Borelli, David Pipal, Peter Spurzem and Gary Clifford.
Although in his 70s by then, Paxton still went to the office every working day and represented many long-time clients. He loved his family, profession and community and had earned a good life in each.
Then, in less than a week that October, Mary Paxton developed a lung infection and died. They had been married for more than 45 years, had raised their sons together and had shared their hopes and concerns.
“I’m grateful to the many friends that expressed their sympathy to the family,” he said.
Today at 75, Paxton still works a full day at the office and enjoys seeing his family often.
“I practice my profession aggressively but remain friendly and aboveboard,” he said. “I am open in my dealings with others, and that’s one of the reasons I’m still working.
“My clients, including some like Millard Hoyle and Frank Klauer who are gone now, have made it rewarding. It’s been a good life.”
