branch death_date nationality birth_date term_end alma_mater death_place preceded battles term_start image name occupation resting_place succeeded birth_place party office article_title
united states army 11 june 2011 american 5 may 1919 january 3 , 1973 1962 texas a & m university baylor law school wichita falls , texas frank n. ikard world war ii january 27 , 1962 1955 graham b. purcell , jr. . jpg graham boynton purcell , jr. lawyer archer city cemetery in archer city , texas bob price archer city , archer county texas , usa democratic member 's 13th district judge of the 89th judicial district court of the u.s. house of representatives from texas graham b. purcell , jr.

graham b. purcell , jr.

graham boynton purcell , jr. -lrb- may 5 , 1919 -- june 11 , 2011 -rrb- , was a united states representative from texas ' 13th congressional district .
born in archer city in archer county , a part of the wichita falls metropolitan statistical area , purcell attended public schools and received his bachelor of science from the agricultural and mechanical college of texas in 1946 , and his ll.b .
in 1949 from baylor law school in waco , texas .
purcell served in the united states army during world war ii from 1941 to 1946 and served thereafter in the united states army reserve .
he served as judge of the eighty-ninth judicial district court of texas from 1955 to 1962 .
he was a delegate to the 1960 and 1964 democratic national conventions , which met in los angeles and atlantic city , new jersey , respectively to nominate the kennedy-johnson and the johnson-humphrey tickets , both of which prevailed in texas .
purcell was elected to the eighty-seventh congress , by special election , to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of fellow democrat , representative frank n. ikard .
he was reelected to the five succeeding congresses -lrb- january 27 , 1962 -- january 3 , 1973 -rrb- .
in 1966 , when john tower won his second term as u. s. senator , purcell defeated the republican dillard carlisle `` bunny '' norwood -lrb- 1913-1993 -rrb- of wichita falls .
on november 22 , 1963 , purcell was riding in the motorcade 's third vehicle behind u.s. president kennedy during the assassination in dallas , texas .
although texas gained a seat as a result of the 1970 census , purcell 's 13th district was dismantled , and his home in wichita falls was merged with the panhandle-based 18th district of republican bob price for the 1972 elections .
the new district was numerically purcell 's district -- the 13th -- but was geographically more price 's district .
forced to run in territory with which he was unfamiliar , purcell was defeated .
in 1993 , house bill hr 2292 was passed designating the federal building in wichita falls as the graham b. purcell , jr. , post office and federal building .
purcell resided in wichita falls until his death at the age of ninety-two .
on february 19 , 2008 , his grandson graham b. purcell was elected student body president at the university of mississippi in oxford , mississippi .
