Judge French Clements

French Clements was born on August 4, 1894 in Cynthiana, the son of a Posey County Circuit Court judge.  He attended school in Posey County before attending Indiana State Normal College at Terre Haute, now Indiana State University. 

He taught school for three years, then served in the United States Navy during World War I.  Following the war, he received his law degree at Northwestern University and began practicing law in Evansville in 1921. 

He was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1924 and 1926 and to the Indiana Senate in 1928 and 1930.  He also served in the Senate during the 1932 special session.  A member of the Evansville Zoning Board, he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Congress in the 1930s.  He was Assistant Evansville City Attorney from 1940 to 1944 and, from 1952 to 1960, judge of the Vanderburgh Probate Court.

Judge Clements was a member of the Presbyterian Church, the American Legion, the Masonic and Elks lodges, and the Vanderburgh County Bar Association. 

He was elected as a Republican to the Appellate Court of Indiana in 1962 and began his service on January 1, 1963.  He became ill in November of that year, and announced his resignation from the Appellate Court within days. 

View the In Memoriam obituary for Judge French Clements
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