Maurice Gatlin's Obituary
Subject: Maurice Gatlin's Obituary
Date: 29 Dec 1998 00:00:00 GMT
Message-ID: <769j03$ooq$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>
New Orleans Times-Picayune May 31, 1965 S1-P1 [Front page!]
Heart Attack Kills N. O. Attorney in Puerto Rico
M. B. Gatlin Then Falls 6 Stories From Hotel
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New Orleans attorney Maurice B. Gatlin Sr. died in
San Juan Puerto Rico, Friday [May 28] night after suffering
a heart attack which resulted in his falling six stories from
a hotel there, his son said Sunday.
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A coroner's report, said Maurice B. Gatlin Jr., attributed
his death to the heart attack. Mr. Gatlin fell over a sixth floor
railing at the hotel to the ground, Gatlin Jr. stated.
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Mr. Gatlin, 62, was attending a meeting of the Inter-American
Bar Associtaion in San Juan.
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He had been decorated with the Ruben Dario medal July 22, 1961,
for his efforts in fighting communism. It was presented to him by
Nicaraguan Consul General Reynaldo Chavez on behalf of Nicaraguan
President Luis Somoza.
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At the time, Chavez said the medal was for "Mr. Gatlin's efforts
against communism and for helping to stop the flow of arms shipments
from New Orleans to Fidel Catro's forces in Cuba."
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In addition to the Inter-American Bar Association, he was also
a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association and the Criminal
Courts Bar Association.
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A political ally of the late U.S. Sen. Huey P. Long, Mr. Gatlin
had once served as attorney for the collector of revenue of
Louisiana.
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In 1954, he opposed U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs in the Democratic primay
for the party nomination for the House of Representatives and was
[soundly] defeated.
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He had also served for a time as the New Orleans representative
of the Anti-Communist Committee of the Americas.
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Born in Century, Fla., Mr. Gatlin was graduated from Loyola
University and Tulane University Law School. He had practiced law
since 1931.
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Survivors include his widow, the former Miss Bernadette C.
O'Dowd, his son, of Waveland Miss. and a daughter, Mrs. Robert
Evans...
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[end of excerpts]
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June 1, 1965 S1-P9
Remoulade by Howard Jacobs
Late Attorney was Man of Wit, Whimsy
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A decade ago we obtained from attorney Maurice B. Gatlin a story
about his new device which he was just putting on the market. It was
called VEND-A-CHECK, and it was more than a business venture. It was
an affirmation of human nature.
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"Vend-A-Check" was an apparatus which dispensed $5 checks on a
coin machine basis. The 'borrower' placed 50 cents in the slot and
out came a certified cashier's check for $5. The proprieter had to
endorse the check for the patron, where upon he could cash it.
The $5 principal was to be paid back in two weeks.
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Gradually, "Vend-A-Check" went into limbo, and after several
months attorney Gatlin ruefully conceded that "collections weren't
as good as I anticipated." But he never lost his confidence in
his fellowman and his trust in their ultimate integrity. "Nobody
is born bad," he once philosophized. "Sometimes circumstances
make them that way."
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Some years ago he initiated the practice of listing his own
telephone in his name, and a second one captioned "children's
phone." Eventually, this became the vogue in many families
with multiple teenagers.
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Attorney Gatlin was a man of many parts, a blithe spirit
despite near-blindness and other infirmities he bore cheerfully
over the years.
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[end of article]
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Jerry Shinley
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