“A pioneer,” said Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron, Lord’s godson. “She did so many amazing things. She was one of the most impressive women in my life.”
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Lord retired from active law practice in 2011 at age 88 after 60 years of practice, said Kathryn Proctor, her friend and secretary for 38 years. Lord outlived many of her clients and finally resigned herself to the fact that “you can’t work forever,” Proctor said.
“She said one day, ‘It’s time to close the office,’” Proctor said. “She knew it was time.”
Proctor remembers Lord missing work only twice because she was sick.
“We had quite the long run,” she said. “She had a good life.”
Sherron said Lord was “very influential” in getting him into the law profession and one of his major mentors. Sherron’s father, Harold, a real estate appraiser, and Lord shared downtown offices for more than 25 years. Oftentimes, he said, their conversations centered around Middletown and Ohio State University athletics.
Lord graduated from Middletown High School in 1941, then earned her bachelor’s degree from Otterbein College in 1945 and taught sixth grade in Lebanon City Schools for three years before entering law school.
She was elected the first woman member of the Middletown City Commission in 1963 and served two at-large terms. She was honored in 1967 as the Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Middletown Business and Professional Women.
In 1977, Lord was named Executive of the Year by the Middletown Chapter of the National Secretaries Association. She was Citizen of the Year at All American Weekend in the 1980s and was named the Harry S. Truman Democrat of the Year by the Butler County Democratic Party.
She received the inaugural Honorable George H. Elliot Distinguished Community Service Award, recognizing her 60 years of leadership in the legal profession given by the Mid-Miami Valley Bar Association, formerly known as the Middletown Bar Association.
She was presented the James Irwin Professionalism award by the Butler County Bar Association this year. Sherron, who nominated Lord, drove her to the ceremony in Hamilton and, though she didn’t like out in public, he called that “the last and best day” with her.
“She thoroughly enjoyed it,” Sherron said.
Lord served on the Miami University Board of Trustees from 1972-1981 and was a founding member of the Friends of the Sorg Opera Co. She was a member of the Faith United New Life Church.
Throughout her life, Lord was loyal to the Middies. She held season tickets for at least six decades.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Breitenbach Anderson Funeral Home with the Rev. Michael Bailey officiating. Visitation will be from 10-11 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home. Burial will be in Woodside Cemetery.
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