DECEMBER 2015 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
Continued from page 17
A high school dropout, Jack
defied the odds and at 21 went to
college.
Back then you didn’t have to
have a high school diploma to go to
Weatherford College,” he explains.
They let you gamble and give it a
shot anyway.
When he graduated in 1931 from
Weatherford College, he went to the
University of Texas. He worked his
way through college and law school
then returned to Weatherford to
practice law.
“I always wanted to be a country
lawyer,” he says.
Clearly, Jack set a sterling
example.
“He taught me what it meant to
be a country lawyer,” Grogan says.
Former Parker County Sheriff Coy
Carter told Mary Kemp that Jack was
shrewd but kindhearted.
“He always found the time to talk
to anyone at any time,” he said in
Kemp’s book.
Connected to the community
In the early 1940s, between his
stint as the county’s district attorney
and his turn as mayor, Borden tried
to join the Army during World War
II. He was denied entry because
of his colorblindness. Not easily
deterred, he sought to serve his
country through FBI employment.
For the next few years, he worked
in several states helping track draft
dodgers.
“I tell you what, when you tell
people you’re in the FBI, it gets their
attention,” Jack says. “And it was
always exciting. You never knew
when you got up in the morning
where you would go or what would
happen by the end of the day.”
Jack returned to Weatherford in
1945. Two years later, 13 people
who were organizing the Parker
County Sheriff’s Posse invited him
and six others to join as charter
members. He joined the Posse and
wrote its charter; today, he’s the only
founding member left.
On March 5 the Posse paid
tribute to Jack with a 60-year plaque,
expressing their pleasure at having
his continued association.
“It’s quite an honor,” he reflects.
After six decades, he still
participates in the Posse’s annual
rodeo parade and grand entry.
64
Except, of course, it’s been a long
time since I could ride a horse,” he
says. “Now instead of riding one
horse, I ride in a horse that’s got three
or four hundred powers.”
Weatherford’s Jamie BodifordBrinkley, who has known Jack since
she was a little girl, remembers Jack
as the friendliest Posse member.
He was always the smiling one,
and he waved to all the kids,” she
says. “We knew him by the cigar in
his mouth. He didn’t smoke it, but he
always held it there.”
Jack joined Bodiford-Brinkley’s
weekly radio show, Walk Around the
County, three years ago. Today, he
joins her occasionally and the two
host local guests and discuss Parker
County’s rich heritage on 89.5 FM
and KYQX.com every Friday from 8
a.m. to 9 a.m.
“Jack’s recall of this community’s
history is incredible – and it’s all in
his head,” Bodiford-Brinkley says.
“He knows people from Springtown,
Peaster, Garner, Poolville—from all
over.”
Faithful and true
Among all the people Jack Borden
knows, children hold a special place
in his heart. He and his wife, Edith
never had children of their own, so
they loved everyone else’s. After
sharing numerous bags of popcorn
with three neighbor girls, Borden
earned yet another honor. The girls
now call him Popcorn Jack.
“He just loves their hugs,” says
Rose Page, Jack’s full-time nurse.
Jack also has made a lasting
impression on scores of children who
have walked through the south front
door at Weatherford’s First Baptist
Church - known by all as Jack’s door.
He has greeted parishioners almost
every Sunday for 50 years; Gordon
McWhorter has greeted with Jack for
nearly 20 years.
“If Jack wasn’t up there they’d
really miss him—especially those
kids,” he says.
Jack started greeting 14-year old
Kelsey Moore when she was 6.
“And he checks on me if I’m not
there,” she said.
When her brother died a year
ago, he made sure she was OK
and, Kelsey said, has become like a
grandfather.
“The first time I met Jack, he said,
‘How are you? You look awfully
pretty today,’” she says. “And he still
says the same thing.”
Even though people joke about
Jack’s ornery antics and “treacherous”
ways of the past, you’d be hardpressed to find anyone who doesn’t
love and respect him.
“Jack is one of the most caring
people I have ever met,” McWhorter
says. “He is the most intelligent man
and is as sharp as a tack.”
J ack’s nephew and law partner
John Westhoff agrees.
“I would say he has based and
still bases his life on the principle and
premise of trying to help people,” he
says.
Jack still helps people any way
he can. Even at 98, he doesn’t miss
a beat. He goes to the office Monday
through Friday. He arrives at 7 a.m.,
starts taking calls at 8 a.m. and leaves
the office around 4 p.m.
“He keeps his mind active that
way and his clients see him as a
person who’s been true to himself
and true to the ways he was raised,”
Westhoff says.
Some of Jack’s clients – like
Dorothy Thomas Pearce – are fourthgeneration clients.
He worked with Pearce’s
grandfather, her father, with her and
her daughter.
“She wanted me to do something
for her 5 year-old grandson so she
could tell people I’ve been their
lawyer for five generations,” he
laughs.
Weatherford College named Jack
a Distinguished Alumnus in 1998 and
Alumnus of the Year in 2003 – and
for good reason. Bodiford-Brinkley
says Jack has been a loyal supporter
of Weatherford College for more than
seven decades and has encouraged
countless clients to follow his
example.
“He is a generous, Christian
man,” she adds.
Jack’s image on Weatherford
College billboards along Interstate
30 is further evidence of the school’s
high regard for him.
Nowhere, however, is his loyalty
and dedication better illustrated than
in his relationship with his late wife.
Jack married Edith Jordan, a local
teacher and Weatherford College
professor, in 1940 and stayed by her
side until she died in October 2006.
We were not just husband and