Justice Robert E. Lavender (Retired August 1, 2007) was born in Muskogee July 19, 1926. Lavender spent his early years in Tulsa and then later, on a farm near Catoosa, Rogers County. He graduated from Catoosa High School in 1944 and the same year entered the military, serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve in the South Pacific during World War II. He enrolled at the University of Tulsa in 1946, receiving his law degree in 1953. During his college years, he worked as an assistant court clerk in the District and Common Pleas courts in Tulsa County. Later he served as Assistant City Attorney in Tulsa before going into private practice. He was practicing law in Claremore, Oklahoma, at the time of his appointment to the Supreme Court. Appointed to that court by Governor Henry Bellmon, Justice Lavender was elected to a full six-year term in 1966. He was retained by the voters in 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990 and again in 1996. He became Chief Justice in January, 1979, serving a two-year term. He is a 32^nd Degree Mason and a member of the Claremore American Legion Post. He was presented the first annual Faculty and Alumni Award of the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1975. In 1993 he received an award as a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Tulsa, class of 1953. Justice and Mrs. Lavender (Maxine) have four children and are members of the Village United Methodist Church. Office: Room 208, State Capitol Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105. Telephone: (405) 521-3846.