The Good Samaritans

Late professor’s acts of kindness to law students continued by his wife

by Rebecca Lauck Cleary

By all accounts, former law professor Tom Mason, who died in April 2004, was a generous soul. He was known as a great teacher and a kind-hearted supporter of students, and his wife, Darlene, is continuing that benevolence through a gift to the law school.

“His heart was in teaching, and the students were very special to him,” Mason said. “I asked him which class he enjoyed the most, and he said, ‘I like to get them when they’re freshmen and then again when they are older to see how they’ve developed.’ He moved to Oxford because of the attitude of the students and the small-town feel.”

The Masons are both originally from Duncan, Okla., the birthplace of the Halliburton Oil Company. Halliburton was Duncan’s main employer, and most everyone had stock in the company, according to Mason, adding that she and her husband were no exception. With proceeds from the sale of that stock, she has decided to start the Mason Family Scholarship in Law Endowment, which will be awarded to a law student based on need.

“Halliburton had a lot of outstanding people who lived in my hometown, and they really added a lot to the town,” she said. “I’ve always been proud of coming from a state where oil production was important and people understood the oil business.”

The couple went to high school together and married during their second year of college at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a geology degree and she majored in art. After serving in the U.S. Army for two years, Tom Mason became interested in law, and he entered the University of Oklahoma College of Law where he served as editor of the Oklahoma Law Review. In 1962, he graduated third in his class.

After practicing law for 10 years, Mason joined the UM law school faculty in 1973 and taught torts, evidence, trial advocacy, federal procedure, and oil and gas law. He coordinated the law school’s student internship and trial advocacy programs and was presented the Outstanding Law Professor of the Year Award in 1975, 1979 and 2004.

Phillip W. Broadhead, clinical professor and director of the criminal appeals program at the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law, said Mason is missed by all who were touched by his life.

“No one will ever know the true measure of the innumerable acts of kindness Tom Mason performed for others during his lifetime, and he probably would have been upset had anyone ever found out about his anonymous generosity,” Broadhead said. “After all, true gifts are those which one gives expecting nothing in return, including the admiration and recognition of others. As was said at his memorial service, he left this world a better place than he found it. What higher praise could any of us hope to receive?”

One of the pleasures in Mason’s life was helping students through his own special fund. Each month, he would put $50 into an account titled Faculty-Staff Scholarship, which could be utilized by students for small emergencies. The money funded a variety of needs, like covering a bill if a student’s loan check had not arrived at the beginning of the semester or helping out students who needed a little extra cash to buy books.

“I knew he liked to privately give money away, and often he didn’t tell me,” Darlene Mason said. “If he knew of a student who was in need, he didn’t tell him it came out of his own pocket. I thought this gift [to the law school] would please him.”

Mason hopes her husband’s legacy will be his generosity toward students.

“He just liked to serve others and help other people. It was just in his nature. He got real joy out of helping,” she said. “He really loved the law school and all the wonderful, congenial people there.”

Besides his wife, Tom Mason is survived by two sons and their families: Mark and Kim Mason, and their sons, Lake and Cal, all of Cedartown, Ga.; and Drew and Darla Mason, and their daughter, Dani, all of Huntsville, Ala.