Second Court of Appeals

Justice Place 5

Clyde R. Ashworth (1983 to 1986)

Clyde Robert Ashworth was born in Kaufman, Texas, on March 7, 1923.  He started college at The University of Texas, but he transferred to the North Texas Agricultural College, where he earned his associate’s degree in 1942.  Shortly after graduating, he joined the United States Marine Corps.  While in the Marine Corps, Ashworth completed Officer Candidate School at Colgate University and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant before being released from active duty in 1945.  He then enrolled at Southern Methodist University, earning a B.B.A. in 1947 and a law degree in 1950.

After law school, he opened his own private law practice before being recalled to active duty with the Marine Corps as a First Lieutenant in October 1950.  He was finally released from active military service in April 1953 and returned to private practice.

In 1969, Ashworth was appointed as judge of the 67th District Court in Tarrant County.  He served in this role until 1982 when he was elected to the Second Court of Appeals.  He served as a justice from January 1, 1983, to March 31, 1986.  After leaving full-time judicial service, Ashworth continued to serve as a visiting senior judge at both the trial- and appellate-court levels.  While serving in this role, he was shot in the hip during the infamous 1992 shooting at the Tarrant County Courthouse and suffered permanent partial paralysis of his right leg.

In addition to his judicial service, Ashworth was involved with numerous community and civic organizations.  He was a member and treasurer of the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Civitan, Optimist, and Rotary Clubs of Arlington, the director and chairman of the Texas Turnpike Authority, the president of the Arlington ISD school board from 1958 to 1969, member and president of the Arlington Bar Association, member and director of the Tarrant County Bar Association, director of the Tarrant County Trial Lawyers Association, member of the District XII Grievance Committee of the State Bar, past chairman of the Tarrant County Juvenile Board, past presiding judge of the Tarrant County Board of District Judges, member of the College of the State Bar of Texas, member of the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism, and presiding judge for the Eighth Administrative Judicial Region.  He was a sustaining life fellow for the Texas Bar Foundation and a charter sustaining life fellow for the Tarrant County Bar Foundation. 

In 1996, the Tarrant County Bar Association awarded him the Silver Gavel Award for distinguished judicial service.  That same year, he had an Arlington ISD elementary school named after him.  Ashworth passed away on March 28, 2010, and was buried at the Old Arlington Cemetery.