Our Man in Arlington

The patriarch of one of the families that have made Arlington what it is today died late last week. His funeral was held at the historic Mount Olive Baptist in South Arlington last Monday evening.

Judge Thomas Monroe died of congestive heart failure at the age of eighty. He had been ill for several years after retiring from the bench in 1993.

Monroe was born in Northhampton County, near Cape Charles, Virginia. Among his early jobs was caddying at an all-white country club in the county. He graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte North Carolina, served as an Army sergeant in both the Pacific and European Theaters in World War II. He graduated from Howard University Law School after the war and set up a law practice in Arlington in 1952.

Monroe almost immediately became involved in the civic affairs of Arlington and was involved in the early moves to integrate Arlington’s schools after the Brown decision. He led efforts to integrate Arlington theaters and the maternity wing of Arlington Hospital. In the early 1970’s, he was the lead attorney in the county’s last desegregation suit supporting the parents of the then all-black Drew Elementary School.

Monroe began his court career in 1972 when he became a substitute judge in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. In 1976, he was appointed General District Court judge, and in 1982 became the second African-American Circuit Court judge in Virginia, the first in Arlington.

It goes without saying that he was also deeply involved in Arlington’s political, cultural, and civic life, too. So was his family. His wife, Eleanor, became Arlington’s first African-American School Board member in the 1970’s and has been involved in almost every aspect of Arlington civic life since then. Their son, Charles, was elected to the Arlington County Board in November 2000 and became chair in January 2003. Tragically, he died suddenly while chairing his first meeting.

My first and only run-in with the county court system came in 1979, while I was a member of Arlington’s School Board. I was stopped for speeding on George Mason Drive, directly behind Wakefield High, just two days after the school board had passed a resolution criticizing the police department for failing to enforce the speed limit around the high school. When I told the officer this, he laconically said, “I know, Mr. Barton. That’s why I am here.”

Righteously convinced of my innocence, I took it to court. A friend who had political experience in other urban areas around the country came with me to observe. He was convinced that I had it wired because of my deep political involvement in Arlington.

When Monroe came on the bench, I uttered an impolite expletive. “What’s the matter,” asked my friend. “You don’t know the judge?” “No,” I said. “I do know the judge, and he’s going to find me guilty. You just don’t understand Arlington!”

I gave it my dead level best, arguing that I could not have been speeding because of my sensitivity about the issue reflected by my strong support of the resolution. When I was finished, he looked at me sternly and said, “We all know you are guilty Mr. Barton!” And that was that. Two weeks later, I was driving down the same street and glanced at my speedometer. I was going forty miles and hour. Judge Monroe was right. That was the Tom Monroe I knew. Deeply honest, strongly committed to the best of American values, and willing to work to see that those values were honored. We will miss him. Richard Barton may be emailed at rbarton@towervillas.com