{"id":370,"date":"2018-11-23T01:06:33","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T01:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/?p=370"},"modified":"2018-11-22T00:31:21","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T00:31:21","slug":"alto-lee-adams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"Alto Lee Adams"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-374\" style=\"width: 256px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-374 \" src=\"http:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AltoAdams250.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AltoAdams250.jpg 250w, https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AltoAdams250-230x300.jpg 230w, https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/AltoAdams250-115x150.jpg 115w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 256px) 100vw, 256px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alto Lee Adams, 1899-1989<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>First graduate of the University of Florida College of Law to become Justice (1940) \u2013 and Chief Justice (1949) \u2013 of the Florida Supreme Court. Noted for incisive analysis and short, clear opinions (referred to by press\u00a0of the day as \u201cinventor of one-page opinions\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>Born in Florida Panhandle, near DeFuniak Springs in Walton County, in 1899. Married Carra Williams in 1925, and they had two children: Alto \u201cBud\u201d Adams Jr. and Elaine Adams. Survived by two children, seven grandsons,\u00a0and three great-grandchildren. Reared in an environment of hard work and farm labor, he realized early that his future was in law, land,\u00a0and cattle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>College Education \/ Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Graduated from the University of Florida and its law school in 1921.\u00a0Member of Alpha Phi Epsilon, Secretary \/ Treasurer and President of John Marshall Debating Society (now John Marshall Bar Association), and awarded Trustee Medal in Declamation Competition.\u00a0Designated Distinguished Alumnus, University of Florida, 1974.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Legal Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Practiced law in Pensacola, 1921-24<\/li>\n<li>Practiced law in Fort Pierce starting in 1924<\/li>\n<li>Appointed by Governor in 1938 as Circuit Court Judge, St. Lucie County<\/li>\n<li>In 1940, Florida voters adopted amendment creating seventh justice for State Supreme Court, and Governor appointed Adams to the new post. He served as Justice, 1940-51 and 1967-68; and Chief Justice, 1949-51<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Non-Legal Achievements<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Started a cattle ranch (Adams Ranch) in St. Lucie County in 1937, and began to expand it in the 1950s. Family ranches now encompass 65,000 acres in St. Lucie, Osceola and Okeechobee counties on which a new breed of cattle \u2013 Braford \u2013 was developed and gained national acceptance. Started Alto Adams &amp; Associates insurance and bond firm in Miami in early 1950s, and sold to associates in 1960s.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Associations \/ Organizations \/ Honors<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Vice Chairman, State Welfare Board, 1937-38<\/li>\n<li>President, Florida State Elks Association, 1937. Author of two books: <em>The Fourth Quarter<\/em> (1976) and <em>Law of the Land<\/em> (1980)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Source: University\u00a0of Florida Law, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.ufl.edu\/alumni\/alto-l-adams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Heritage of Leadership Recognition Society<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0On December 17, 2012, a ceremony was held in Fort Pierce to name the \u201cAlto Lee Adams, Sr. U.S. Courthouse\u201d in his honor, and Governor Rick Scott later awarded the prestigious &#8220;Great Floridian&#8221; Award to honor him.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\">Burial: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/34347229\/alto-lee-adams\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Harrison Cemetery<\/a>, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Florida<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First graduate of the University of Florida College of Law to become Justice (1940) \u2013 and Chief Justice (1949) \u2013 of the Florida Supreme Court. Noted for incisive analysis and short, clear opinions (referred to by press\u00a0of the day as \u201cinventor of one-page opinions\u201d). Born in Florida Panhandle, near DeFuniak Springs in Walton County, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","hide_page_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[160,161],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-people","tag-adams","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waltonpast2present.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}