Second Court of Appeals

Chief Justice

Frank A. Massey (1953 to 1982)

Frank A. Massey was born on November 28, 1911, in Britton, Texas.  He attended Texas Christian University for one year before leaving to take a job as a claims adjuster in the insurance industry.  After working with attorneys handling insurance claims, he became interested in the law, and in 1931, he began his legal studies through correspondence courses.

By 1934, Massey had moved to Abilene, Texas, and had set up the insurance adjusting firm of F. Massey and Company.  After passing the bar exam in 1937, he created the law firm of Massey and Mobley.  He moved to Fort Worth to practice law in 1940 but was drafted in 1943.  He served as a legal assistant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps until being discharged as a sergeant in 1945.  After leaving the military, he resumed his law practice in Fort Worth.

In 1948, Massey ran for district judge but lost.  Then in 1952, he ran against Ed Hall for Chief Justice of the Second Court of Appeals, winning by only a few thousand votes.  He held this position for the next twenty-nine years before losing in the 1982 Democratic primary.  

Massey died on April 17, 1986, in Fort Worth and was buried in the Britton Cemetery in Ellis County, Texas.