(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights attorney Jim Rhoden.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born May 18, 1951, in Columbia at Marion General Hospital.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I graduated from CHS, graduated from Millsaps College and graduated from the University of Mississippi.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: Mainly I do real estate and probate work, which is wills and estates mainly. I used to do a lot more, but my practice has gotten to where that pretty much consumes most of my time. I’m also the Marion County probate administrator. I get difficult cases. When the court has a dispute they assign them to me as a neutral party. I also do the drug, alcohol and mental commitments for Marion County, and I’m the youth court referee for Marion County. Those kind of keep me going, especially the youth court.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: I was in the banking business for 17 years. I had a law degree and just decided to open up a law firm. I needed a job so I went to work as a lawyer. I never had a partner; I’ve always been on my own. I had an office in the old depot for a while, then I moved to Second Street in 1992.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: Working in the youth court and helping children. I deal with abused and neglected children. At one point we had 300 children in custody, and now I think we’re down to 86. We’ve done a substantial thing to try to reduce the number of children in custody. The problem we have is the drugs are not only affecting the people that take them but also their families and children. We get a lot of children in custody because the parents are unable to take care of them because of drug use. It’s a shame.
Q: What is the most important lesson you have learned in your career?
A: I would say patience. I really haven’t got there yet. I don’t have a lot of patience with people that are untruthful. I try to be straightforward and tell people what they ask me. A lot of times it’s not what they want to hear, but I’m trying to be more patient with people and understand they’re coming from a different place. They might not know some things you think they should know so I try to direct them. They hear a lot of street talk and come in with preconceived notions, and that’s a difficult thing to deal with they already have their mind made up.
Q: When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A: I wanted to be a doctor. I did get a degree in botany from Millsaps, and I actually attended medical school for a year and didn’t like it. Then I went into law school. I didn’t spend a lot of time trying to decide what I wanted to do. I was enjoying life so I didn’t really have a specific goal. I’m enjoying what I’m doing now, though.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I was a bank teller for Deposit Unity National Bank in Jackson. I worked there for three summers.
Q: Who are the people who have been most influential in your life?
A: That would have to be my mother, Amy Jean, and my wife, Karen. They both have been very supportive and love me a lot. My wife keeps me straight so she’s a really strong and positive influence. My mom was a very loving lady.
Q: Do you have children?
A: I have two: a boy, Matthew, and a daughter, Courtney. Matthew died last year at 46. He graduated from MIT and was very, very smart. My daughter is a wonderful person, and she does a lot of work for me right now.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: My mother fixed meatloaf with tomato gravy and rice, and my wife does it just as well so I’d have to say that would be it.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: Probably New Zealand. I’ve always wanted to go there and think it’s an interesting place. I feel like it’s kind of life a different world, and they speak English so I wouldn’t feel like I was lost. Ireland would be an option, too.
Q: What hobbies do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I used to paint a good bit. Right now my main hobby is youth court because I spend so much time on it. I like to go to the movies. They’re a really good escape. I read when I can, but I read so much legal literature and so many documents that sometimes I’m tired after a while but I enjoy it a good bit.
Q: What do you enjoy about Columbia and Marion County?
A: It’s small enough where you can drive to the donut shop and see four people you know and wave. Where I am now I can walk to a restaurant, to church, funeral home, banks, courthouse or to City Hall. It’s quiet and not too far away from someplace else I’d like to go like New Orleans or Jackson or catch a plane and go someplace else.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be and why?
A: Stephen Hawking. He wrote “A Brief History of Time,” and usually I can read pretty fast, but I had to read his book sentence by sentence because it’s condensed and deep. There’s some deep, compact statements in there that you really have to think about.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on who you are today?
A: Marrying my wife. She gives me a lot of support, takes care of me, grounds me and keeps me from going off in the wrong direction. She’s just a real powerful person and a real loving person.
Q: What is one thing you want to do that you’ve never tried?
A: I’ve traveled a good bit, but I’d really like to travel more and stay in the warm climate. I like to go to English-speaking countries where I feel a little bit more secure. One day I might like to write a book.
Q: Using one word for each, what are your top three morals?
A: I don’t know if it would be a moral but straightforward then honesty and truthfulness.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: A good dad, a good lawyer, a good youth court judge and a good person.
