Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 13, 1993 TAG: 9311130172
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Devore, 66, has made comments in both Montgomery and Floyd courtrooms in the past week that indicate he will retire early next year.
He declined to respond to a reporter's inquiries this week.
But several Montgomery County lawyers have said that Devore's retirement is all but official, and that J. Patrick Graybeal, a juvenile and domestic relations judge and former Montgomery County commonwealth's attorney, is the odds-on favorite to replace him.
Other names mentioned as possible candidates are Marc Long, a Blacksburg lawyer, and Ray Grubbs, a General District Court judge for the 27th District.
The decision rests with the General Assembly's Courts of Justice Committee while the legislature is in session, leading many people to speculate that an appointment will come in February or March.
Alan Gillis, president of the Montgomery-Floyd-Radford Bar Association, said Friday that the group likely will meet within three weeks to endorse a candidate.
"People are posturing already," Gillis said.
Graybeal confirmed Friday that he has "announced my interest" in the judgeship.
Graybeal, 61, has been juvenile and domestic relations judge for the 27th Judicial District since June 1989.
Prior to that, he was Montgomery County's commonwealth's attorney for 25 years.
Devore assumed the bench in 1977, defeating John B. Spiers Jr., Radford's city attorney, for the appointment to the 27th Judicial Circuit bench.
Devore replaced Judge W. Southall Jordan, who retired.
Devore attended college on the GI Bill as an ex-Marine and worked as a state trooper for three years to earn money to attend law school.
He practiced law with J.C. Snidow after graduating from the T.C. Williams School of Law in Richmond in 1955. Snidow, a retired General District Court judge, died earlier this year.
Devore was a county court judge in Montgomery and Floyd counties from 1966 to 1974.
He also was a member of the House of Delegates in the early 1960s.
In 1991, he underwent a successful kidney transplant.
Sources say Devore's resignation is not for health reasons. Others say he has hinted at a return to private practice.
by CNB