William N. Ethridge

[2] Ethridge suffered from polio as a child, and required the use of a wheelchair.

In October 1950, Governor Fielding L. Wright appointed Ethridge, then 40 years old, to one of three newly-established seats on the state supreme court,[1][2] likely making Ethridge the first judge appointed to the court with a physical handicap.

[2] He became Chief Justice in 1966, winning re-election to that office in 1968,[2] and serving in that capacity until his death.

[1][3] Ethridge married Laura Clark of Webb, Mississippi, with whom he had five children.

[1] He died at Baptist Hospital in Jackson at the age of 58, from an apparent heart attack while recuperating from surgery to remove his gallbladder.