William Norman Hamilton

Born in Dallas in 1922 to Meda and Norman Hamilton, William Norman Hamilton, known affectionately as Bill, attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana 1936-1940, then enrolled at The University of Texas at Austin in 1940. Answering his nation’s call to duty, he interrupted his studies in 1942 to join the U.S. Army Air Forces. After receiving flight training, he went into the Pacific Theater, joining the 63rd Bomb Squadron out of Leyte in the Philippines.

Bill served his country as a pilot, where he flew both B-24 Liberator Bombers and then P-38 Lighting Fighters, a rarity in aviation, participating in various “snooper” night missions. After the end of the war, he visited the aftermath of Hiroshima and flew surveillance missions over Japan and was honorably discharged at the rank of First Lieutenant.

Bill then returned to UT, where veterans were allowed to enroll in law school without finishing their undergraduate degrees, an option former business major Hamilton took, graduating with honors in 1949. “All my life I wanted to go into law”. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity.

He married his wife of 58 years, Juanita Turner, in 1946. Bill commenced his law practice with his family’s firm, Hamilton & Hamilton, in 1949. His daughter, Deborah Hamilton, was born that year and his son William Roderick Hamilton was born in 1951.

In 1954 he was appointed Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas and served as Chief of the Dallas office and then as Chief Criminal Prosecutor of the entire 100 County District. He returned to private practice in 1961 as a founding partner of Vial, Hamilton, Koch & Knox, one of Dallas’ largest law firms, where he remained “Of Counsel” until the age of 84.

In addition to his over 50-year membership with the State Bar of Texas, he was a member of the American Bar Association, the Dallas Bar, the Federal Bar Association, the Texas Bar Foundation, the Dallas Bar Foundation, the Texas Association of Defense Counsel, the Dallas Association of Defense Counsel and the Texas Center for Legal Ethics and Professionalism.

He also served as a member appointed by the Texas Supreme Court to the Citizens Commission on the Texas Judicial System. Bill was an author of legal articles to professional treaties and was honored by his alma mater as the 1997 Honorary Barrister of the University of Texas School of Law.

He was a member of the Chancellors Council of the University of Texas system, the Dallas Country Club and the City Club of Dallas. He was a fifty-year member of St. Michael & All Angels Episcopal Church. He is survived by his daughter, Deborah Hamilton Tolson-Reeder (Michael) and his grandchildren Raymond Stanley (“Cuatro”) Tolson, William Hamilton (“Billy”) Tolson and Christine Tolson Macdonald (Gordon).

He lived his entire life with honor, courage, dedication and duty.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation to one of the following: Culver Academies https://www.culver.org/about/giving; Saint Michael and All Angels https://saintmichael.tpsdb.com/Give/smaa-memorials; or State Bar of Texas.

Public memorial services will be held at a later date at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Hamilton family.