Editor's note: This article has been revised to reflect the following correction, which will appear in Sunday's print edition. Liberty County Superior Court Chief Judge David Cavender retired Jan. 27. His last name was misspelled in a front-page article in Sunday's edition. The Coastal Courier regrets the error.

Courtroom D in the Liberty County Courthouse was packed to capacity Wednesday, lined with court personnel, attorneys, judges, law enforcement officers and the media.

But it wasn’t a major trial that drew the crowd. Instead, all who gathered were there to honor Liberty County Superior Court Judge David Cavender and celebrate his retirement after 33 years as a judge in the Atlantic Judicial Circuit. Wednesday was his last day serving as judge.

Judge Paul Rose paid tribute to Cavender and recounted his career for those in attendance.

“I won’t tell you the year he graduated from high school, but let me tell you that gas was 31 cents a gallon, a loaf of bread was 21 cents, the best picture that year was ‘My Fair Lady,’ Julie Andrews won the Oscar for ‘Mary Poppins,’ and Congress was debating some new health-care proposal called Medicare,” Rose said as the room erupted in laughter.

Cavender was born in Waycross and graduated from Ware County High School. He received his degree in political science from Georgia Southern University. After college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, inducted in 1969, and spent most of his Army career at the Pentagon. After being honorably discharged in 1972, he attended law school at the University of Georgia. He returned to Waycross in 1975 and began practicing law.

He ended up in Hinesville when his fraternity brother Richard E. “Dickey” Braun talked him into moving, and they opened a law firm together as partners. They worked together for two years before deciding to go their separate ways, but remained great friends.

In 1982, there was an open seat for Superior Court within the Atlantic Judicial Circuit. Cavender ran and won the election. Rose said Cavender began his first term of office Jan. 1, 1983, and served continuously for 33 years.

Rose added that Cavender’s length of service is unmatched.

“I have found in the last 118 years the entire history of this circuit, there have only been 16 individuals to serve as a Superior Court judge, and Judge Cavender has served longer than any other judge in the history of our circuit,” Rose said.

Throughout his career, Cavender has presided over thousands of cases, one which even garnered national attention, Rose explained.

“The state vs. Holloway back in the 1980s was a case where a young man over in Pembroke, in Bryan County, broke into someone’s (home), and it was a brutal murder, and the death penalty was recommended by the jurors in that case,” Rose recounted.

Rose said Cavender presided over the trial, which later went to the Georgia Supreme Court. Rose said that although there were some other technical issues in the case, the big issue was that the defendant was mentally disabled.

The case made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the death penalty does not apply in a case involving someone who may be mentally disabled.

“On behalf of those of us who share the bench with you and on behalf of the lawyers here today, the clerks and everyone who works in the judicial system, I want to thank you for 33 years of dedicated service to the citizens of this circuit,” Rose said as he closed his tribute. “I wish you a long and happy retirement, and I only ask that you let me know when the fish are biting.”

Braun talked about Cavender’s earlier days, exposing a different and fun, loving side of the judge most only knew as a curator of the law.

“What can I say about Dave?” Braun said as he spoke softly and explained that his recent battle with esophageal cancer made it difficult to speak at times. “We’ve known each other for a half century, and I would venture to say that besides my wife, Libby, I’ve known Dave longer than anybody in this courtroom. It’s been an honor to know him. He’s been my best friend, and he has always been there for me.”

Braun said the two have weathered the good times — and a few not so good years — together, but said Cavender was always there to lend a helping hand and friendship.

“Now some of the things that we did I won’t tell you, it would benefit neither of us. And some of the places we have been to this day remain undisclosed,” Braun said, which made the crowd laugh. “But I will say that his integrity is impeccable. … He is just a remarkable friend, and I just feel so blessed to have had him over these years.”

Braun shared a memory about a summer when Cavender stayed with Braun and his wife in their single-wide mobile in Midway.

“Libby was working at the telephone company here, so we decided we were going to go out and make some money and help Libby out with the groceries and all,” Braun said. “We hit the corner bar in Midway and while there we met a contractor, and he was building the overpass at South Newport. So we decided we would go down there and ask for a job and apply. So we went. … We got to the job site, and it turned out we were hammering nails out of boards and stacking up the boards and things like that. So we rationalized with each other and said, ‘You know, this job is not for us. We’re too smart for this.’ … Then we said, ‘OK, let’s get serious. We’ve got enough sense to become entrepreneurs.’ So we decided to go into the shrimping business.”

With the room roaring in laughter, Braun recalled how the shrimping business didn’t last much longer than the first job.

He said they bought a boat and shrimp net and left from Yellow Bluff and put out their nets in St. Catherines Sound. Braun said they caught a lot of shrimp and were celebrating the thought of cashing in on their big haul.

“But then we departed, and the forward gear went out on the boat,” he said. “So we decided we can back our way in. … But the waves were so high that they were coming in the boat and sinking it. So we had to stop.”

He said day turned into late afternoon and admitted that they did not bring any emergency equipment or supplies. Cavender eventually jumped out of the boat and tied the boat to a marker to prevent them from drifting to sea.

“We didn’t have anything … but a pint of Jack Daniels. … So we drank the Jack Daniels and waited, hoping somebody would come by and rescue us,” Braun said, smiling. “Libby got worried, and her dad was an avid fisherman and suggested they call the Coast Guard. Dave and I saw the helicopter hovering with the searchlight. We kept waving. … Finally, they found us.”

Braun joked, saying now that his lifelong friend is retiring and already has a boat, they might get back into the shrimping business. Then Braun offered his expression of gratitude.

“Seriously, it has been such an honor,” he said as he turned to the judge. “There was not one day, one weekend, while I was going through my treatments and chemo and radiation — there was not one week that Dave didn’t call me and check in on me. … That meant so much to me. … I had a scan last November, and currently cancer free.”

After a few more tributes, Cavender stood up and thanked all for their support. Modestly, he thanked his fellow judges and former assistants. He expressed his gratitude to the attorneys and law-enforcement community, saying it has been a wonderful experience.

“I am honored by your presence here, and I want to thank you all for coming to commemorate my career and to celebrate my retirement,” he said. “It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve as a Superior Court judge for the last 33 years and one month. … When I was elected, I really wasn’t old enough to become a judge, so they had to wait until I was old enough so they could swear me in. I took office in January of 1983, and I heard a lot of cases, presided over hundreds of jury trials … and made lots of decisions. … And I can’t ride around without seeing some place that reminds me of a case that I had. … Sometimes, it’s a pleasant memory; sometimes, it’s not. But I do have fond memories of working with everybody in this circuit.”