Judge Elmer O. Friday
County and Circuit Judge, State Senator
1924 - 2006
Judge Elmer O. Friday, Jr. was a sixth-generation Florida,
who ancestors settled in Florida before it became a state. Born in 1924 in a logging camp in Lake
Garfield, Florida, he grew up primarily on Babcock Ranch where his father,
Elmer O. Friday, Sr. ran the logging operation and commissary for E.V. Babcock
and later Fred C. Babcock. His mother
was Mayo Yates Friday.
Judge Friday graduated from Charlotte Highschool where he
was a starting left tackle on the football team. He served in the Navy in WWII. He
obtained his law degree from the University of Florida and was an avid gator
his entire life. He wedded Betty Jo
Guthrie of Punta Gorda in 1947, and they were married for 58 years, had 4
children and 12 grandchildren.
He started his law practice in 1955 and became a county
court judge in 1957. He was elected to
the Florida State Senate in 1961 and served as a member through 1970, as
secretary of the Senate from 1970-1974, and as capital chair of the Florida
Appellate Court before returning to Southwest Florida as a Circuit Judge, a
position he held until his retirement.
After retiring, Judge Friday was very active in the Punta
Gorda community, serving as Chairman of the Board of Crossroads Wilderness
Institute and was also a 32nd Degree Mason, Shriner, Optimist and
Rotarian.
It was said that the Judge was a Will Rogers of his day, “he
never met a man he didn’t like,” equally comfortable with mechanics, lawyers,
politicians and laymen. He was the
“prototypical southern gentleman judge”.
In 1990 when he retired, Punta Gorda celebrated its founders’ day that
year by honoring Judge Friday naming the day “Judge Elmer O. Friday
appreciation day.”
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