By Robert Medley
Contributing Writer
He graduated from his hometown high school with a class of 38 students in 1953, and six years later, Fenton Ramey would return to Yukon to practice law for six decades.
And Ramey, 84, is still taking clients in his Yukon office today.
“I’m still working, every day,” Ramey said.
The Canadian County Bar Association on Monday recognized Ramey for 60 years of legal practice in a ceremony with Canadian County District Judges Paul Hesse and Jack McCurdy II presiding.
Ramey studied law at the University of Oklahoma, and as a law student, he worked one summer for the trustee of Selected Investments in Oklahoma City. Selected Investments was accused of defrauding clients in a high profile 1950s case in Oklahoma County.
After law school in 1959, Ramey went into the Air Force where he worked as a Special Agent for the Office of Special Investigations.
In 1962, Ramey began serving as a Canadian County Assistant District Attorney. In 1968, Ramey was appointed by then Gov. Dewey Bartlett to serve as a District Judge in Oklahoma and Canadian Counties.
By 1973, Ramey opened a private practice.
He describes his work as “general practice law.”
“I represented whoever walked in the door, or called me on the telephone,” Ramey said.
He said “luck” and riding a bicycle has kept him active and healthy in a city he has watched grow to about 25,000 people today. He has no changes he’d make looking back at his career, he said.
“I’d do it all exactly the same again,” Ramey said.
District Judge Hesse said Ramey’s 60 years as a member of the Oklahoma Bar Association has left a positive impact.
“Sixty years of membership in the Bar Association is extraordinary and commendable. There are very few attorneys that ever reach that milestone,” Hesse said.
“Mr. Ramey reached this milestone by effectively serving his clients’ needs and, of course, by having good health. He’s a mentor to the younger attorneys- which is almost every other member of the Bar- and he is quick to offer his sage advice to attorneys and judges on how to improve the legal profession,” Hesse said. “I hope to be around to celebrate his 70th year as an attorney.”
