JUDGE WARD PASSES AWAY

Former Escambia County Judge Billy Ward has passed away at the age of 95. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and was an elected justice of the peace in Escambia County from January 1957 through December 1971 when the Justice of the Peace Court was abolished by a Florida Constitutional revision. He was grandfathered in as a county judge, and continued to be reelected until his retirement in1988. He was the last non-lawyer to serve as a judge in Florida. Funeral services will be held Friday, May 11th at Walnut Hill Baptist Church with burial to follow in the Walnut Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.