James Clinton Turk

James Clinton Turk (May 3, 1923 – July 6, 2014) was a Virginia lawyer, state senator and for more than four decades, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia. Early and family life Born in Roanoke County, Virginia, Turk grew up on a farm near Garden City, Virginia. His parents were a farmer and a schoolteacher; his brother Maynard also became a lawyer. Turk attended a one-room schoolhouse and later William Byrd High School in Vinton, Virginia, graduating in 1939. His first full-time job was with the Norfolk and Western Railroad. During World War II, he was a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army, from 1943 to 1946, and then served with the United States Army Reserve until the 1960s. Using his GI Bill, Turk received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from Roanoke College in Salem in 1949. He received a Bachelor of Laws from Washington and Lee University School of Law in 1952 (graduating second in his class). He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. He married Barbara Duncan, and they had five children. Political career