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Paul W. Eaton Jr., longtime New Mexico attorney and former Chaves County Commissioner, 78, died on February 2, 2004 at his home in Amarillo. Mr. Eaton was a lawyer for more than 50 years, including almost 30 years in Roswell. A memorial service will take place on Saturday, February 7, 2004 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Peter's Episcopal Church, 4714 NW 4th in Amarillo, with Father John Watson officiating. Mr. Eaton was born on March 16, 1925, to Paul and Hazel Storz Eaton in Detroit. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he turned 18 during World War II and served as a Lt. JG on a Destroyer Escort. Upon his discharge from the Navy in 1946, he obtained a Bachelors of Business Administration degree from the University of Michigan in 1947 and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1950. He married Hope Ingold in 1951 in Detroit. The Eatons took their honeymoon trip through New Orleans to Roswell, where Mr. Eaton earlier had visited and where they decided to start a career and a family. He later said that the honeymoon almost ended as they reached the plains of West Texas when Mrs. Eaton, who had never been west of Chicago, saw the brown, treeless landscape. After settling in an apartment in Roswell, Mr. Eaton went to work for attorney A.B. Carpenter for no pay for six months until he proved to his boss that he could practice law competently. The Eatons had sons in 1952 and 1954 and a daughter in 1957. Mr. Eaton opened his own law practice in Roswell before being asked to join the Hervey, Dow and Hinkle firm in 1956. Mr. Eaton's name was added to the firm's name in 1970. In 1979, the Eatons moved to Amarillo to open a branch of the Hinkle law firm in order to better serve as general counsel to its principal client Southwestern Public Service Company, which was headquartered in Amarillo. The Amarillo office grew to more than 15 attorneys. In addition to his specialty in public utility law, Mr. Eaton represented clients that included family farmers and multi-national corporations on complex water law issues and oil and gas matters. He was known for his meticulous attention to detail and commitment to excellence. He was praised by judges, other attorneys and clients for his civility, honesty and dignity. When asked one time by the general counsel of Pennzoil Oil Company to provide an answer in writing to a complicated legal question, but to keep his answer brief, he wrote a letter back that answered the question with one word: "No." He counseled scores of young lawyers to write clearly, work hard, behave ethically and provide the best possible representation to their clients. By 1995, when Mr. Eaton retired as the firm's most senior partner, the firm had become one of New Mexico's largest and oldest law firms and was known as Hinkle, Cox, Eaton, Coffield & Hensley. It had expanded from one office in Roswell to six offices in two states, with branches in Amarillo, Midland, Austin, Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Even after his retirement, he kept an office at the firm in downtown Amarillo and continued to go the office almost daily, which he used to say was at the insistence of his beloved wife. At the time of his death, Mr. Eaton was counsel to the Amarillo firm of Courtney, Countiss, Brian & Bailey, LLP. In the early1960s, Mr. Eaton served as chairman of the Chaves County Republican Party. He was elected to the Chaves County Commission in 1966 in his one and only campaign for public office. He was a member of the Michigan, New Mexico and Texas Bar Associations and several other professional organizations. He also was a member of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Amarillo, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Roswell and the Amarillo Country Club. He had served as president of the Roswell Country Club and the Amarillo Club. Mr. Eaton could be persuaded to play his drums at parties with friends, and he especially enjoyed teasing and joking with his friends and family. He became a licensed pilot, captained his sailboat on Lake Meredith, played golf and tennis to win and was an avid reader and puzzle solver. When he was in his late forties, he organized a very competitive annual father-son tackle football game that took place each Christmas at the NMMI football field in Roswell, for which he occasionally recruited young ringers to play with him on the fathers' team. Survivors include his wife, Hope, of Amarillo; his mother, Hazel Eaton, 103, of Tucson, Ariz.; his sister, Betty Thum of Ashville, N.C.; three children-Scott Eaton, a lawyer in Albuquerque; Bob Eaton, a banker in Albuquerque; and Elizabeth Eaton Doyle, a teacher in Rice Lake, Wis.; and six grandchildren-Albert Eaton, a midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy; Park Eaton, a student at the University of Southern California; Christopher Eaton, Michael Eaton, William Eaton and Emma Eaton, all of Albuquerque. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Baptist St. Anthony's Hospice-Olivia's Angels, 600 N. Tyler, Amarillo, Texas 79106, or St. Peter's Episcopal Church Altar Guild, 4714 NW 4th, Amarillo 79106.
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