FEDEEAL JUDGE WILL ADDRESS SEMO GRADUATES

U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr. will present the spring commencement address May 8 at Southeast Missouri State University.

Limbaugh is the Missouri representative on the Judicial Council of the United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

The commencement, which will be held at 2 p.m. in the Show Me Center, will be led by Debra A. Nation-Hess of Chaffee and Shannon M. Reed of Crystal City. Nation-Hess and Reed will become the 51st and 52nd achievers of perfect 4.0 grade-point averages from the university.

Twenty-four members of Phi Kappa Phi, an international honor society for academic distinction, will be recognized during the commencement proceedings.

In addition, 49 graduate students will received degrees, 33 of whom will graduate with academic distinction.

Limbaugh received a bachelor of arts degree from Southeast Missouri State University and a law degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law. He practiced law with the Cape Girardeau law firm, which was then called Limbaugh, Russell, Syler and Payne, from 1951 to 1983.

Limbaugh served as prosecuting attorney of Cape County from 1955 to 1958, and served as the Cape Girardeau city attorney from 1964 to 1968.

In 1983, Limbaugh was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan. The appointment was on the recommendation of U.S. Sen. John C. Danforth.

Limbaugh is a member of the Cape County Bar Association, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Missouri Bar and the American Bar Association. He is also a member of the American Judicature Society, a Fellow in the American College of Probate Counsel, a Fellow in the American Bar Foundation and a member of the American Law Institute.

He has also served as president of the Missouri Bar Association and on the House of delegates of the American Bar Association.

A veteran of World War II, Limbaugh has served as counsel for Southeast Missouri State University for a number of years. In Cape Girardeau, he has served as Chamber of Commerce president, Southeast Missouri Hospital president, Lion's Club president and United Way president and campaign chairman. Limbaugh has received Distinguished Service Awards from Southeast Missouri State University and the University of Missouri-Columbia Law School.

Limbaugh and his wife, Anne, have three sons, Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr., James P. Limbaugh and Andrew T. Limbaugh. James and Andrew Limbaugh hold degrees from Southeast Missouri State University.

An honors convocation will be held at 11 a.m., May 8, in Academic Hall Auditorium, where 118 undergraduates and 33 graduate students will be honored. The undergraduates have earned at least a 3.5 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. The graduate students have achieved at least a 3.8 average.