A crowd of 400 friends and supporters gathered on the day Gov. Jimmy Carter welcomed Conley Ingram onto the Georgia Supreme Court.
“I just hope I can earn the confidence expressed in me by the commission and the governor,” Ingram said at his swearing-in. “I will always discharge the duties of this office faithfully and impartially.”
His first order of business after joining the high court in 1973 was a heartwarming one, officiating at the marriage of Judy Comer and Ronnie Gay. The bride served as Carter’s executive secretary and the groom was a state trooper. They exchanged vows on the grounds of the state Capitol.
It’s a fitting anecdote for a jurist known for his integrity, intellect and warm spirit. Ingram has died at 89.
“One of the finest men I will ever know,” said Mark Mozley, among the many community members mourning the loss.
State Sen. Jen Jordan was among the officials offering condolences.
“So incredibly sad to hear this news,” she posted via social media. “Judge Ingram was kind and fair, loved the law, and his family more. A real loss for the State of Georgia.”
Ingram was born Sept. 27, 1930 in Dublin. His father died when he was 11 and his mother was a teacher at what was then the State College for Women in Milledgeville. His uncle, I.S. Ingram, was president of the campus then known as West Georgia College.
Ingram graduated from Georgia Military College in 1945 and from Emory University in 1949 and from Emory’s law school in 1951.
He served on the staff and faulty of the Army Judge Advocate School in Charlottesville, Va. After his service in the U.S. Army, Ingram practiced law in Marietta before becoming a Juvenile Court judge in 1960, then a Superior Court judge in 1968.
“I’ve devoted my life to the law,” he once told The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution, formerly separate media outlets. “I expect to continue to do it and this is the highest call I could have in our system of government.”
Ingram most recently served on the Cobb County Superior Court and as a Senior Judge. He was widely respected by the legal community and beloved outside the courthouse set for his warm smile, quick wit and endearing personality.
Elizabeth Taft recalled visiting with Ingram and his wife, Sylvia Ingram, at her former restaurant, Chicken and the Egg.
“He and Sylvia were so very sweet to me every time they were there,” Taft said. “I thought the world of both of them.”
Ingram once described himself as coming “from a family of preachers and teachers, basically,” but the law became his legacy. He joined his daughter, attorney Nancy Ingram Jordan, when she was sworn in as the 2010-2011 president of the Cobb County Bar Association. It was a position he’d held in 1958-59.
Administering the oath that day was Ingram’s other daughter, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram.
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