When Justice of the Peace Eddy Spivey walks off the bench for the last time Dec. 30, he’ll have spent 28 years presiding over evictions, handing down sentences and marrying lovebirds. Funny thing is, he wasn’t even sure he wanted the job.
Spivey had been working for Shell Oil for 23 years when he decided to retire early to help his mom, Myrtle, take care of his ailing father, Haskell. After his father passed, local leaders asked him to consider running for Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace. He turned them down the first time, thinking he’d like to go back to Shell. When they approached him a second time, he acquiesced.
He’s never looked back.
“I love it. I love it and I still love it. I love the contact with the people. I love helping my community and the constituents of Precinct Four and the constituents of Ector County,” Spivey said.
He especially likes performing weddings and hopes to continue doing so after he retires.
“I enjoy meeting families and the brides and grooms very much. I enjoy seeing some people that I’ve known for years and didn’t know how they tied in with their families. I got a little bit better insight on that now by meeting them. I’ve done weddings anywhere up to 15 in one family since I’ve been here. They keep coming back and I keep going back,” Spivey said.
After taking the bench that day so long ago, Spivey said he quickly learned he’d made the right choice. He loves the variety of the cases that come before him along with all of the different personalities, from the attorneys to the litigants themselves.
“It makes every day a different day. You’ll never have the same old day. You may have eviction suits one day and you may have criminal trial the next day and then you might have regular civil trial the next day so it always keeps it interesting. It does,” Spivey said.
With February being Black History Month, Spivey was asked if he ever experienced disrespect stemming from his race.
“I didn’t have any problem being accepted when I came into this office. I’d been in the community for years, I grew up in the community so I didn’t have any problem being accepted as far as I saw it. Maybe some other people had problems with it, but I never had problems,” he said.
Spivey said he suspects he got respect because he gave respect.
The married father of three also would like to think he’ll be remembered as “Judge Spivey, a fair man.”
Over the years, Spivey said he’s had several staff members who supported him and helped make his job a true pleasure: Irma Gamboa, Janice Pierce, Gabby Garcia, Crystal Rios and Christy Galindo.
He couldn’t have done the job without his clerks and his late parents, he said.
His mom and her sister were avid supporters who would come out from California to campaign on his behalf, Spivey said.
He remembers one day walking into the house and being confronted by his mom.
“‘My mom looked at me and said, ‘Well, do we have an opponent?’ and I said, ‘No, ma’am. We don’t have one thank goodness,’” Spivey said.
She responded with a loud “Drat!”
“They were looking forward to getting out and meeting a lot of people,” Spivey said with a laugh.
He has always been so appreciative of their help and the help of all of the other people who have campaigned on his behalf over the years, Spivey said.
Spivey, 74, decided after seven elections, it was time to give someone else the opportunity to sit on the bench. He considers himself lucky in that he was able to remain friends with each of his four opponents. He attributes that to the fact “I wasn’t running against anyone. I was running for a position.”
“I remember one election, I was standing up at the polls and my opponent’s father was standing next to me and I think someone took a picture of us kind of hugging. People wondered ‘How can you do that? He’s running against you. How can you be so charming with his father?’ I let them know ‘I’ve been knowing this family ever since I’ve been in Odessa almost and the election is not going to break our friendship. We’re running an election, we’re running it clean and we’re still gonna be friends after it’s over.’”
Once retired, Spivey said he’ll be tackling his wife, Joyce’s, “Honey Do List” and helping out family members in whatever way he can.
“I got a whole list. I doubt I’ll ever finish them in my whole life,” Spivey said with a laugh. “I’ll work on them and I got family that’s been real supportive and I’ll be happy to help them, on my side and on my wife’s side. All of them have supported us to no end and I’ll be doing the same thing with them when I retire.”
