by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
William H. Maness has had more than one calling in life.
He was a U.S. Navy fighter pilot in World War II. After he was honorably discharged from the service, Maness went to law school and was admitted to the Bar. He was later elected to the Florida legislature and in 1957, he was appointed to the bench in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
That progression of distinguished service has led him to his latest avocation, that of an author.
Maness has seen a lot of change in the world since he was born Dec. 16, 1916. That was the year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the new income tax laws, Jeanette Rankin became the first woman elected to Congress and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was all of 106.
He has also seen a lifetime of change in his profession and in Jacksonville, where he has lived for the past 60 years.
The son of a Methodist minister and third of five children, as soon as he was old enough, Maness worked in the tobacco fields of his native North Carolina every summer. That led to him later in life becoming an advocate of equal rights, one of the things Maness said has changed most in Jacksonville since he and his first wife settled here in the 1940s.
“At first I fell flat on my face trying to bring about voluntary desegregation,” he recalled. Maness was appointed to the Circuit Court bench in 1957, but resigned six years later to become a champion for equal treatment for all people.
“There were some City officials who refused to even consider the idea. Their determination held us back for years. Jacksonville could have done what was done (for civil rights) in 1964 20 years earlier, but we finally got there,” he said.
“There’s also more business now. There’s more traffic now, but the change in the people is what I think is most important,” he said.
Maness has also seen the legal profession – especially the process to become an attorney – change since his first day of law school.
A 1938 graduate of Elon College in North Carolina, he worked as a claims adjuster and salesman for an insurance company for two years, then returned to his alma mater to work as a fundraiser.
“After three months with no success, I spoke with Coach Peahead Walker, who coached all the teams at Elon while I was there. He had moved to coach football at Wake Forest and offered me housing and tuition at the Wake Forest School of Law if I would manage the team,” said Maness. “I agreed and lived in the visitor’s locker room in the gymnasium while I went to law school.”
He soon found the demands of managing the team caused him to miss so many classes he wasn’t allowed to take final exams. It was 1941 and Uncle Sam needed service personnel, so Maness joined the Navy and ended up in aviation cadet school in Jacksonville. He eventually served as a fighter pilot in the Pacific before he was discharged five years later.
When he returned to the States, Maness enrolled in the John B. Stetson Law School, where he graduated in 1948.
He said what happened after graduation is another of the major changes he’s seen in the legal system.
“When I finished law school, a law degree from Stetson, the University of Miami or the University of Florida was automatic admission to practice. It was called Diploma for Privilege.”
That was the beginning of a career in the legal profession that still brings Maness to his office on North Ocean Street every day.
Those experiences, plus the people he knew and events he witnessed as a judge and legislator motivated Maness to begin writing it all down.
About 10 years ago, Maness decided to begin compiling his written records and published his first book, “Dear William: the Yeast is There,” in 2000. It’s about his part in Jacksonville’s civil rights history and the title was inspired by a letter he received from his father almost 50 years ago.
“It was when I was so discouraged about the difficulty we were having in desegregating public accommodations. My father wrote me and told me that even when things don’t come as quickly as we want them to, the yeast is there. Meaning, of course, the seed is planted and it would come to pass. And it did,” said Maness.
He has now published five books, all filled with a personal history of life, love and work and he isn’t finished yet.
In addition to maintaining his law practice on a limited basis, Maness is finishing his sixth book, “Things I have Seen, Heard, Done and Believed,” that will be published in December.
Maness said he has written his books because he believes his experiences and insights “might be of some value to other people. I’ve learned a lot of things the hard way.”