Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m., Michele Payne and her husband Jimmy (who is quite the honey-do), picked me up at my house. (We have an expression in the sorority when a guy helps out all the time like that that he is a honey-do, as in honey do this and honey do that.) Jimmy is a wonderful friend to the law school and to me. He did all the driving while Michele and I worked on the way over to Memphis. We stopped in Little Rock to have lunch at Vermillion Water Grille. As you know (if you’ve followed the blog), it’s one of my favorite restaurants. We were met there by my friend, Steve Shults, who I met at the Eighth Circuit Judicial Conference. Over time we’ve become good friends, so it was great that he was able to join us and that Michele and Jimmy were able to meet him.
Rick Ramsay and Rodney Slater
After lunch we got on the road again arriving in Memphis at 3:30 p.m. which was a bit tight for us to get showered and changed and get the reception set up, but we were able to do it. Our reception started at 5:00 p.m. in the Louis XVI Room. I should back up and say that every year the Arkansas Bar Association Mid-Winter Meeting is held at the Peabody Hotel. It’s always a great meeting. It’s smaller than the annual meeting and a little easier to visit with folks who are there. There are a number of pretty fun annual events around the meeting and the CLE is always very good. Three years ago we began the tradition of having a reception on the Thursday night of the Mid-Winter Bar Meeting. At the reception we give an update on what’s going on at the law school, answer questions and serve light hors d’oeurves and cocktails. Generally, we have a good crowd and this year was no exception. Those in attendance included Rick and Clair Ramsay, H.T. and Linda Lou Moore, Bill Martin, Tanya and Rod Holmes, Donna and Lamar Pettus, Rosalind Mouser, Virginia Hardgrave, Susan Schell, Don Judges, Mary Beth and David Matthews, Toof Brown, Jeff and Margo Germany, Walter Murray, Dave and Mary Harrod, James McMenis, Jason and Colleen Hendren, Clay and Barbara Patty, and Carlyle White.
That evening a group of us went to dinner at Encore which is actually right across the parking lot from the Peabody on Peabody Place. Our group included Donna and Lamar Pettus, Bill Martin, Susan Schell, Michele and Jimmy Payne, and myself. We had a lively discussion given the week’s previous political events and Donna’s President-Elect status in the Bar Association. It was a very good meal and good fellowship.
Nancecy 