Palestine High School Alumni Association

01 / 14 / 1922  –  12 / 07 / 1982

Austin – Joe R. Carroll, former Palestine municipal judge, Anderson County attorney, and assistant attorney general for the State of Texas, died in an Austin hospital after a lengthy illness.

Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday in the Weed-Corley Funeral Home Chapel, Austin, with burial in the State Cemetery.

A native of Tennessee Colony, Mr. Carroll was born Jan. 14, 1922, a son of the late J. Stanley Carroll and Florence Washburn Carroll. He was a 1939 graduate of Palestine High School, and attended Texas A&M University from 1939 to 1942, when he enlisted in the Air Force.

Carroll served as a test pilot during his armed service career and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross before he was discharged in 1946 with the rank of major.

He graduated with honors from Baylor University Law School in 1950, returning that same year to Palestine where he served as city judge and as county attorney until 1957, when he was appointed as an assistant attorney general under Will Wilson. He served in that capacity until 1961, at which time he opened a private practice and also served as city attorney in Snyder from 1963 until 1975.

Carroll served as president of the Texas Association of City Attorneys in 1971-1972, and was appointed by former Governor Dolph Brisco as a member of the Texas Water Rights Commission in May 1975, a position he held until he retired on May 4, 1981.

He is survived by his wife, Camille Mitchell Carroll of Austin; son, Bob Carroll of Lubbock; two daughters, Mrs. Duaine (Ellen) Boydstun of Dallas, and Mrs. Steve (Tobin) Wangerin of Houston; two grandchildren, Frank and Hanna Carroll of Lubbock; four brothers, Dr. Don Carroll, Frank Carroll, and John S. Carroll, all of Anderson County, and Jim Roper of Lufkin; sister, Mrs. Herman (Louise) Graser of Anderson County.

Source: Palestine Herald-Press 12-08-1982