For grand marshal Judge James T. Russell, leading the Nevada Day Parade is family tradition
Submitted by Kelsey Penrose on Wed, 10/23/2019 - 10:47am
Judge James T. Russell is a fourth generation Nevadan, and has been serving as a Carson City district court judge for over 12 years. This year, following in the footsteps of his relatives, Judge Russell has accepted the position of grand marshal for the Nevada Day Parade.
Judge Russell’s grandfather was the honorable Judge Clark J. Guild, who is one of the founders of Nevada Day. Judge Guild, who was born in 1887 and grew up in Dayton, was grand marshal in 1959 and 1971.
Judge Russell’s father, ex-Nevada Governor Charles Russell, also held the role of grand marshal for the parade in 1952 and 1976.
Judge Russell was selected to be this Nevada Day Parade’s grand marshal after the Nevada Day Committee thought he would be the perfect connection to the theme of celebrating Nevada Counties, considering his own history has so many footholds throughout the great state of Nevada.
In addition, Judge Russell has direct ties to the Parade itself.
“Ken Hamilton from the Nevada Day Committee reached out to me because they thought it would be really nice to have someone from the Russell-Guild family,” said Russell. “The reason for that is my grandfather was the founder of the parade, and my father was the former governor. I was more than happy to accept, I’ve always thought it was interesting.”
Judge Russell recalls his grandfather, the late Judge Guild, and his interesting coming-of-age story in the new State of Nevada, setting a precedent of public service in their family.
“When my grandfather was a young man, one of 11 kids in his family, he worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Lyon County,” said Russell. “One day, he was working on a train, swung underneath and had his leg damaged. He was sent to Salt Lake City where they amputated his leg.
"When he came home, he couldn’t work on the trains anymore, so instead he began working in the clerks office. He began working with a lawyer and back then, you could become a lawyer by essentially knowing how to read and write.
"Soon after, he took his oral bar exam with two other individuals and he passed and he became DA of Lyon County, and later became a District Court Judge. He served as a judge between Lyon County and Carson City for almost 30 years.”
Since that time, the people in Judge Russell’s family, from an array of uncles, cousins, and his own father who became Nevada’s Governor for a time, have spent their lives in service to the people of Nevada.
Governor Russell himself came from humble beginnings, said Judge Russell, and was born in Lovelock but grew up in Deeth where his father ran a cattle ranch. His own father was uneducated, and wanted his three children to go to college.
After college, Governor Russell taught in a one-room schoolhouse for a while in East Nevada before going to work for his uncle who ran the Ely Courier. He became governor, said Judge Russell, after he was elected to Congress and Senator Pat McCarran called him up and essentially instructed Russell he’d be running for governor, since McCarran didn’t like who was in the running, and that’s how he ended up as the Governor of Nevada.
As for what Judge Russell believes is the best description of Nevada culture, he says it’s very specific but hard to put into words.
“Something I’ve noticed is that throughout my life, people in Nevada have voted for the person, not the party,” said Judge Russell. “For a long time I think the culture was strictly a ‘Nevada way,' which is a culture of getting things done the right way. I think it’s changing, and that the nature of crimes has been changing, because there are people from so many different places moving in, but that’s the old Nevada way.”
Nevada culture is cowboy culture, he continued. Cowboys always tell the truth, and they do things the right way. That’s where Nevada’s heart is.
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