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Longtime Texan loved life, law and family

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It usually took Bill Carssow only five questions and 10 minutes to know everything he needed to know about somebody. It would take a lot more than that to know everything about this man who has notched his way into local and state history.

William Benton Carssow helped create the State Bar of Texas and was its first executive director. He earned his law degree at age 19. He trained pilots during World War II. He was a state representative during the Great Depression, a husband of 65 years, a ranch owner in Cedar Park and a feisty father, grandfather and great-grandfather. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

On Wednesday morning, Carssow passed away at his Cedar Park home. He was 96.

Carssow was active well into his mid-90s. Just last week he was planting tomatoes at his ranch on CR 185 just north of RM 1431. His house is adjacent to the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center and his front door faces the future site of Phase II of the 1890 Ranch project. In fact, the Carssow family used to own all the land where those developments currently sit.

Carssow worked as an attorney in Austin for more than 40 years and retired with his wife, Katherine, on the land they had bought in Cedar Park. There was a small house on this property that was built in 1890. When developers bought up some of the land, they decided to call their endeavor 1890 Ranch. That house built in 1890 still stands - right next to Bill and Katherine's house.

He was born in San Antonio on Dec. 3, 1911. He attended St. Mary's University in San Antonio before earning a law degree at Cumberland University (Lebanon, Tenn.) in 1930. He moved back to San Antonio and practiced law.

Carssow loved Texas and everything about it. He loved it so much that when he decided to run for state representative, he made his official announcement on March 2, 1936 - the 100th Anniversary of Texas Independence. He was elected to serve the Bexar County/San Antonio area the next two years. In that time, he lobbied the Legislature to pass a bill creating the unified State Bar.

The state hired Carssow as Executive Director of the State Bar in 1938 and it was officially established in 1939.

In 1941, Carssow found himself in the military like many men those days. As a second lieutenant and captain in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he trained pilots who would fly missions during World War II and beyond.

After the war, Carssow and Eugene “Gene” Alvis were partners in a law firm for more than 40 years in Austin, with the last 10 of those years focusing on bankruptcy law.

Carssow met Katherine Lynn Patton in 1942 in Shreveport, La., at a Presbyterian church.

“One of the ladies at the church told him to come sit by me,” Katherine said from her home Wednesday.

Since moving to Cedar Park, Bill Carssow has been very active in the community. He founded the Cedar Park Rotary Club, he was active in the YMCA both as a board member and a camp counselor, he was part of the Kiwanis Club, Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce, Cedar Park Community Foundation, Cedar Park Library Foundation and the Cedar Park Heritage Foundation.

He helped found the Northwest Austin Rotary Club 50 years ago and he helped with the “Handbook of Texas” in the Texas State Historical Association, of which he was a member.

He served as an elder at Hope Presbyterian Church in north Austin and University Presbyterian Church in Austin, and was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of San Antonio and Ridglea Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth.

Carssow's office is something that would make a philosophical society member salivate. Some of the law books and manuals on his bookshelf are so old that the good ones have most of their hard-bound covers crumbling to pieces. Others simply have tape holding the covers on. He's got Texas Almanacs dating back to 1947, an original “Tom Sawyer” hard-bound signed by his aunt and uncle in 1931, maps of Texas, a map of the 183A toll road that passes by his house and pictures of him with longtime state representative Tom Craddick. There's another photo signed by President George W. Bush on his wall.

On another wall hangs a plaque that honors him for serving as a master mason for more than 70 years.

He grew a beard within the last two years and promised to one day shave it off - but only when he mastered how to use e-mail and become a whiz on the computer. He never got to shave off his beard, but he was getting close to it. The computer setup in his home office was also rather humorous.

“It's certainly a computer for the macular degenerate,” joked his grandson Ryan Carssow.

It's comical because instead of a large-screen monitor, Bill Carssow had a large-screen TV - a 52-inch flat-screen to be exact. It was the largest TV in the house and the only one that didn't actually show what's on TV. It had directions on how to save Word documents taped below the screen.

Carssow was proud of several of the things he accomplished in life, most notably the State Bar and getting the opportunity to be a camp counselor for the YMCA. His community involvement and popularity were recognized through a well-attended 90th birthday or the Cedar Park Rotary Club Roast in March 2004.

He loved life to the fullest and he loved his family even more. The Carssow family and the extended families have hugged and embraced since they've learned of his passing. One that seemed so soon even for a man who's done so much.

E-mail editor@hillcountrynews.com

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