Judge Mary Buckner, a ‘trailblazer’ for Georgia and judicial system, dies at 73
Mary Buckner, the first Black woman to graduate from Mercer University’s law school and the first Black female judge in Columbus Recorder’s Court, has died.
Buckner died Friday at 73, according to Striffler-Hamby Mortuary.
One of her sisters, Muscogee County School Board member Naomi Buckner, told the Ledger-Enquirer that Judge Buckner had been receiving cancer treatment for about three years, and “a fall ignited other health issues.”
The visitation will be Sept. 17, from 6-8 p.m., in Striffler-Hamby, 4017 Macon Road. The celebration of her life will be Sept. 18, starting at 11 a.m., in Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, 4400 Old Cusseta Road.
“Such a big hearted people loving hard working constantly upbeat lady,” Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge and former Columbus Mayor Bobby Peters wrote about Judge Buckner in a Facebook post. “So much respect for her, so much fun to be around her. Rest in peace your Honor. You will be missed by many.”
LaRae Moore is among them.
“She opened doors for so many young African American lawyers, like me, to become established in Columbus,” Moore, an attorney at the Columbus law firm Page, Scrantom, Sprouse, Tucker & Ford, told the L-E in an email.
Moore, a former senior assistant district attorney in the circuit, appreciated Buckner as a mentor and a judge.
“She was a no-nonsense judge who was firm but fair,” she said. “On the bench, and in private, she didn’t sugarcoat anything and simply told it like it was. She could spot a frivolous argument a mile away. However, she presided in a way that afforded everyone the opportunity to be heard, without being dismissive.”
Judge Buckner was one of nine children born to Beatrice Rogers Buckner and the Rev. Otis Buckner. Naomi Buckner described Judge Buckner as “a high achiever throughout school and set high goals for herself. She knew early on that she wanted to be a lawyer so that she could participate in the legal system, applying the law fairly. This decision was influenced by the racial unrest at the time.”
Judge Buckner participated in the 1963 March on Washington and another civil rights march in Forsyth County in 1987.
Naomi Buckner said her sister’s “approach to life was very lawyerly. In discussions about anything, when she was asked about her opinion, she would say, it depends on what the facts are.”
Despite her sister’s accomplishments, Naomi Buckner said, Judge Buckner “lived a simple life and enjoyed being around family and friends.”
Naomi Buckner credits their parents for teaching Judge Buckner and all their siblings “to honor God, to work hard, to achieve goals, to tell the truth, to do the right thing and to follow the Golden Rule.”
Judge Buckner graduated from Carver High School in 1966. She was among two dozen Black students who integrated Mercer University, according to a 2017 video tribute to her from the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys.
After graduating from Mercer with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science in 1970, she attended her first year of law school at Emory University.
U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Ga., a classmate at Emory, said in the video, “From the time I met her in 1970, I knew that her intellect, her faith and determination would lift her to a stellar legal career.”
Buckner transferred and graduated from Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer in 1973.
“Judge Buckner told us stories of the resistance and outright hostility that she faced from some classmates,” Mercer Law School dean Cathy Cox told the L-E in an email. “But she was determined to succeed — and did — with her determination leading to many successes for the rest of her career. She inspired me and so many of our students and alumni on every occasion we had with her.”
After law school, Buckner joined Bishop’s law firm, Bishop & Hudlin, where she was considered the first Black female lawyer to practice in Columbus.
“She was a trailblazer,” retired social worker Cynthia Saxton said in the video. “She was a role model for all of us.”
When the Columbus Council appointed her in 1984 as a Muscogee County Recorder’s Court judge, “it was statewide news,” attorney Dorothy Williams said in the video.
Buckner was a foster mother and adopted a son. Her community involvement included serving as president of the Columbus Technical College board and president of the Georgia Legal Services Program.
“She came from humble beginnings,” Green Lewis Jr., retired vice president of the AFL-CIO, said in the video. “She’s never too busy to share. She’s never too busy to advise.”
Judge Buckner retired in 2019. The Black Law Students Association Alumni Council at Mercer honored her with its Trailblazer Award in 2020.
“She was someone that ordinary people could look to and be motivated that anyone could achieve, especially women and Blacks,” Naomi Buckner said. “Black people were proud of her accomplishments and could envision themselves making similar accomplishments.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 11:33 AM.
