Tulsa World
Although his political career had proven shorter than he would’ve liked, Jack Short didn’t dwell on it: It just meant more time for the law he loved.
The longtime Tulsa attorney, who served one term in the State Senate, was so unwilling to give his practice up, in fact, he was still going hard at it well into his 80s.
“He always said he’d rather die in his law office than anywhere else,” his daughter, Sabrina Sanders of Moore, said, laughing.
“Dad was idealistic. He really believed in the justice system. And he really believed in his clients. When you were his client you had a lawyer who gave 110 percent for you.”
“The law was his true love.”
Jack Marwood Short, a former legislator, assistant U.S. attorney, administrative law judge and trial lawyer, died Sunday in Oklahoma City. He was 89.
A memorial service is set for 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 9, at All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa.
A native of Mangum and a Navy veteran, Short graduated from Tulane University and the University of Oklahoma law school.
As a Republican representing Oklahoma County, he served one term in the State Senate, 1966 to 1970, and was appointed minority whip in 1969.
Short was highly respected by members of both parties: In 1968, he was voted a Top Ten Legislator by Senate colleagues.
However, Short would lose his reelection bid.
“He told me later that he had been naive when he was elected,” Sanders said. “I think the way politics works, the good-old-boy system, was a shock to him. But he would like to have continued as a legislator. He could’ve done a lot of good.”
Short moved on, settling in Tulsa in 1971, where he would serve as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma through 1975.
From there, he was appointed an administrative law judge for the U.S. Department of the Interior, for which he handled federal Indian probate cases, traveling from Tulsa to courthouses in Oklahoma and Kansas.
Later, taking early retirement as a trial lawyer for Texaco, he settled into private practice at an office in Utica Square, where he remained for the next 25 years.
Short was active in the Tulsa community; among his interests, he was a member of Friends of the Library and docent for Philbrook Museum.
His other daughter, Stephanie Sidney of Boston, said she always called him “Mr. Tulsa.”
“He was so proud of the city and loved to show it off when I was in town,” she said.
Politics remained a strong interest for Short, and he took his civic duty seriously.
Disabled from a stroke a couple of years ago, Sanders said, “he made me practically carry him across the street to his precinct to vote. And he would continue to vote in the nursing home.”
Short was preceded in death by his wife, Julia, and a daughter, Sharon Athey. Survivors include his two daughters, Stephanie Sidney and Sabrina Sanders; and two grandchildren
