Judge J. Vernon Sims, 
Union Parish, Louisiana  Fifth Judicial District

File prepared by Deanne N. Pardue



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From "Biographies of Louisiana Judges" edited by J. Cleveland Fruge
for the Louisiana District Judges Association, publishers.  1971.
Reproduction permitted without written permission provided credit
line is retained.  Copyright, 1971, J. Cleveland Fruge.

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John Vernon Sims, Judge of the Fifth Judicial District, Division
"A", comprising the Parishes of Franklin, Richland and West Carroll,
began his professional career at Oak Grove in August, 1930, after having
received his LL.B. from Louisiana State University Law School on June 9,
1930.  In January, 1932, a partnership was formed by the ..... John R.
McIntosh, a former district judge of the Fifth Judicial District, and
Judge Sims for the general practice of law at Oak Grover, under the firm
name of McIntosh & Sims.  Subsequently, James D. McIntosh and John M.
Hester, now deceased, entered this law firm as partners, and the
practice of law by Judge Sims in this association under the firm name of
McIntosh, Simes & Hester was continued until he assumed the office of
District Judge on December 10, 1954, succeeding the late Judge Carey J.
Ellis of Rayville, who retired.

Judge Sims' early education was acquired in the public schools of
Morehouse Parish, at Mer Rouge, his high school diploma having been
received on May 29, 1923.  While at L.S.U., he took an active part in
campus activities and was a member of the Theta Kappa Beta, now Alpha
Tau Omega (social), Gamma Eta Gamma (legal), Daggers, Panhellenic
Council and other organizations.

Judge Sims was elected District Attorney of the Fifth Judicial
District at the age of 30 in 1936, and served in that office for twelve
years until 1948, not offering for re-election.

Judge Sims was born in Ouachita City, Union Parish, on October 3,
1905, the oldest of three sons of the marriage of the late George
Madison Sims, a merchant and planter of Mer Rouge, and the late Mary
Elezabeth Yeldell.  Judge Sims' two brothers were the late Hubert M.
Sims, a former State Senator, of Mer Rouge, and the late Alton Y. Sims,
a planter, of Bastrop.

Judge Sims was married to Miss Glen Gaddis of Pioneer on June 16,
1934.  Mrs. Sims' parents were the late Thomas LaFayette Gaddis and the
late Mrs. Emily Catherine Gaddis, nee Alley.  Judge and mrs. Sims have
one child, John Vernon Sims, Jr., born July 29, 1939, presently an
officer with the West Carroll National Bank of Oak Grove, and two
grandson, John Vernon Sims, III and Thomas Morris Sims.

Judge Sims has served as Government Appeal Agent, Local Board No.
73, West Carroll Parish, since June 26, 1953; he is Board Chairman of
the West Carroll National Bank, Oak Grove, Louisiana, a member past
president and past deputy district governor of Lions International; a
former member of the official board and chairman of the building
committee of the First Methodist Church Oak Grove; a member of Fifth
Judicial District and Louisiana State Bar Associations; a member of
American Judicature Society; past president of the Fifth Judicial
District Bar Association; a former member of the Board of Governors of
the Louisiana State Bar Association (1950-1952), and a former member of
the Judicial Council of the Supreme Court of Louisiana (1954-1957); a
Mason (32nd degree, Shriner).

For recreation, Judge Sims enjoys working on the grounds of his
suburban home, "Glenwood", as well as his interest with his son and
grandsons in their registered herd of Shorthorn cattle.

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