FAYETTEVILLE — Judge John W. Hatcher Jr. had a keen political mind and a dedication to the law — and the citizens it governed.
The former Fayette County circuit judge and legislator died on July 11 at the age of 81.
Current Fayette County Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing, who was appointed to fill the vacancy on the bench when Hatcher retired in 2018, counts himself among those who learned significantly from Hatcher’s life and actions.
Citing Hatcher’s accomplishments and legacy, Ewing said, “There’s no way I could replace him; I just followed him. He was so well-respected.”
As an attorney for Kay Casto and Chaney from 2004 to 2018, Ewing practiced before Hatcher in his Fayette County courtroom in civil matters. When Ewing opened a Fayetteville office for Kay Casto and Chaney in 2015, he started drawing assignments for abuse and neglect cases more frequently in which he appeared before Hatcher, and Ewing also appeared before Hatcher in a bench trial in a real estate case.
In the earlier years of his career, Ewing was a “Charleston lawyer,” and he said Hatcher “would sort of rib me about when I was going to become a Fayette County lawyer.”
“I live on Edmond Road probably about a mile from where he lived,” Ewing said. “Most of my family went to Nuttall High School (from which Hatcher graduated), so he was somebody I knew of pretty much my whole life.”
And, he gleaned knowledge and advice from Hatcher constantly throughout the years.
“As a lawyer, the way he set expectations, you had to be prepared,” Ewing said. “It made you a better lawyer.”
“He was very conscious of being professional and dressing professionally and taking the profession seriously, very adamant about it,” Ewing added.
Hatcher also emphasized that an attorney be authoritative and knowledgeable when questioning witnesses and presenting a case.
“He was always trying to make you better as a lawyer,” Ewing said, even providing pointers after a trial had concluded.
“From my experience, he cared about the profession overall,” Ewing said, noting that Hatcher was active with his judicial association and with new judges, including such moments as presenting Ewing with a copy of his plea script when he first got started.
“From my experience as a judge, he had tremendous respect from other judges in the judicial association,” said Ewing. “He was great to me.
“I’m in the position I’m in now thankfully in large part to his support.”
Ewing said that — even after he retired and relocated to Florida — Hatcher was still available as a source “to bounce things off as a mentor.” He also said that he’s fairly certain that Hatcher asked some of his colleagues to “keep a check on me” and provide advice, and “they’ve been great resources over the years.”
“Over the years, especially toward the end of his time on the bench, I got to know him personally more,” Ewing said, adding that he’d kept in touch with Hatcher and even visited him in Florida one year while vacationing with his wife and children. “He was definitely a mentor, someone I respect a whole lot. A friend, but more a mentor.”
“Obviously with his experience in the Army and legislature and 28 years on the bench, Judge Hatcher was the epitome of a public servant for Fayette County,” Ewing said. Hatcher’s work also had a lasting impact on the operation of the court system in the county, which is one of his “ongoing legacies,” he noted.
“He was very big about formality,” Ewing said in describing his mentor’s approach. “I’m probably a little less formal than what Judge Hatcher was.
“I learned from him that formality and structure and atmosphere are important to set the tone.”
“Since he moved to Florida, people would ask me how he’s doing,” Ewing concluded. “He obviously made an impact on the community and the people he worked with, and he was still held in high regard.”
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According to his obituary, Judge Hatcher was the eldest child of the late J.W. “Woodie” and R. Maxine Morris Hatcher. He grew up in Edmond and was a graduate of Nuttall High School, West Virginia University and the WVU College of Law. After law school, he was commissioned as a captain in the United States Army and attended Judge Advocate General School. From there, he was deployed to Vietnam, where he served as a JAG officer for a year. Hatcher served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps from 1969 to 1973.
After his honorable discharge from the Army, he returned to Fayette County and entered private law practice, eventually establishing a solo practice in Fayetteville.
Hatcher then entered the political arena with his election that led to him serving multiple terms in the West Virginia House of Delegates representing the people of Fayette County. As a legislator,, he served on many committees, including four years as chair of the House Judiciary Committee. His primary goal as a legislator was to “look after the working people of the state,” Hatcher said in a 2018 interview with The Fayette Tribune.
A vacancy in Fayette County in 1990 led to his appointment by Gov. Gaston Caperton to fill the post of Circuit Judge J. Zane Summerfield. Hatcher was sworn into office January 4, 1991 and served the Twelfth Circuit for nearly 28 years until his retirement on Nov. 16, 2018.
“Ever since I was a kid, I liked politics,” Hatcher recalled in the 2018 interview.
While the increasing prevalence of abuse and neglect cases and drug-related cases, as well as problems with recidivism, had caused him concern in his latter years on the bench, a bright spot had become the number of adoptions he’d overseen, Hatcher said.
In 2018, Hatcher said he did his best to be impartial while adjudicating cases. No case was more important than any other, he added. “I worked hard as a judge, I worked very, very hard. I treated everybody the same; I didn’t care who they were. I was fair to both sides … that’s the most you can ever hope to do.”
After his retirement, Hatcher and his wife, Alice, moved to Florida, where they settled in with their dog, Bella, and fostered new friendships.
According to his obituary from dignitymemorial.com via Dodd-Payne-Hess Funeral Home, friends and family will be received at the funeral home at 350 West Maple Avenue, Fayetteville on Saturday, July 19 from 3 to 5 p.m. Funeral services for Judge Hatcher will be held at the funeral home on Sunday, July 20 at 2 p.m., with interment to follow at Restlawn Memory Gardens, 151 Restlawn Cemetery Road, Victor.
The family requests that no flowers be sent for the services. For those wishing to memorialize the judge, donations to the Honorable John W. Hatcher Jr. Memorial Law Scholarship at the West Virginia University College of Law are suggested. Secure online donations may be made at give.wvu.edu to Fund 3Z1184. Donations may be mailed to WVU Foundation, P.O. Box 1650, One Waterfront Place 7th Floor, Morgantown WV 26507, with the memo line indicating Fund 3Z1184.
To leave online condolences for the family, visit www.doddpaynehessfuneralhome.com.