LIMBAUGH: A CENTURY OF LIVING; A LEGACY OF LAW

For 75 years, Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. has practiced law in Cape Girardeau. At 99 years of age, he is reported to be the oldest practicing attorney in Missouri.

On Friday, he will celebrate his 100th birthday. Fittingly, that will occur during the annual Missouri Bar Association meeting in Kansas City, where he will be honored by the profession he so dearly loves.

At Kansas City, he also will be a guest on a national radio talk show hosted by grandson Rush "Rusty" Limbaugh III.

"I've gotten a great thrill out of working in the (legal) profession," said the gentlemanly Limbaugh, whose life story is a litany of achievement.

A former Cape Girardeau mayor, Howard C. Tooke, once described Limbaugh as his "boyhood hero."

Limbaugh's life has spanned nearly a century of change, from the days of the horse and buggy to today's modern transportation. The legal profession also has changed, becoming far more complex.

But his resolute love for law has made the name Limbaugh virtually synonymous with the legal profession.

Limbaugh's son, Stephen N. Limbaugh Sr., was a Cape Girardeau attorney for many years and now serves as a federal judge.

For many years, Rush H. Limbaugh Sr. practiced law with another son, Rush H. Limbaugh Jr., who died last year at the age of 72.

Limbaugh also has four grandsons in the legal profession: Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr, a circuit judge in Cape Girardeau County; David Limbaugh, a Cape Girardeau attorney; John Limbaugh, a Memphis attorney; and Daniel Limbaugh, a professor of law at West Point.

Although he's approaching the century mark and his eyesight isn't what it used to be, Rush Limbaugh's keen mind shows no sign of atrophy. He still works six days weekly, Monday through Saturday, at his law office.

"I always stay a normal day," said Limbaugh, who is the senior partner of Limbaugh, Russell and Syler.

He retains a sharp mind that vividly recalls events dating back to his youth.

Limbaugh was born Sept. 27, 1891 in Bollinger County. He grew up on a farm four miles south of Sedgewickville, and attended a one-room elementary school in Bollinger County.

Limbaugh says he became interested in law for a number of reasons.

The need for order was brought home to him at an early age, he says.

His father served on the school board for the small country school. Limbaugh was 7 years old when his father died of consumption at the age of 43.

Limbaugh remembers a meeting of the school board that was held at his parents' home because his father was too ill to leave the house.

The meeting was held to discuss the problems that the teacher was having in keeping order in the classroom. "I can remember as well as if it happened yesterday that after a long period of discussion, my father said, `If he can't keep order, he can't teach school.' I've remembered the word order in that connection ever since."

Growing up in rural Bollinger County, the need for law and order was readily apparent, recalled Limbaugh.

"During the time I was a boy there were many occasions when at public gatherings there would be fist fights or somebody murdered, and consternation spread over the crowd," he said.

"I knew that law was at the bottom of it (the solution)," he pointed out.

He remembers that on one occasion it was rumored that a fight would break out on the last day of school between two individuals as a result of an old grudge.

"That day at noon a man came in from nowhere, I never knew where he came from until he got there," recalled Limbaugh. "He got up after they had served dinner... and said, `I came here today representing the law. I understood that there was going to be trouble here. I came to tell you there's not going to be any trouble here. Before anybody starts trouble in this crowd, he's got to go over me.' That made a lasting impression on me," said Limbaugh.

When he was 11 years old, Limbaugh read a book that contained a collection of speeches and orations. He enjoyed reciting the famous orations.

"That year I frequently referred to things in the book and every time there was a speech or an oration quoted in the book, there was a little note that told who had written it or given it."

Whether it was Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech or Lincoln's Gettysburg address, they all had one thing in common, says Limbaugh. "They were all lawyers, and boy when I read them I thought, `My lands, if I could do something like that, how fine it would be.'"

Limbaugh was 13 when he visited the World's Fair in St. Louis in 1904, accompanied by his mother and a neighbor. They made the trip by train.

For a Southeast Missouri farm boy, it was an eye-opening experience. "I never had seen an electric light until that time," he remembered. He also ate his first and ice cream cone and hot dog at the fair.

"We in the country never knew anything about that," he said.

"I don't think I'd been away from home more than 15 or 20 miles before," recalled Limbaugh. "Well, I just discovered the world at that time."

He attended high school at Millersville and went on to attend what was then the Normal School (now Southeast Missouri State University) in Cape Girardeau.

He served as the second editor of The Capaha Arrow, the student newspaper that was established in 1911.

At the age of 16, following his freshman year in college, he taught at a rural school near Scopus for a year. He returned to the Normal School and subsequently attended law school at the University of Missouri.

In 1914, he married his Bollinger County sweetheart, Bee Seabaugh. She died in 1977.

After only two years of law school, he obtained a certificate to practice law on July 3, 1916.

He started practicing law in Cape Girardeau in the summer of 1916 with the law firm of Davis and Hardesty.

"I agreed to pay them $50 for a chair and table in their office for that summer," said Limbaugh. "They gave me a number of accounts to collect for clients. Most of that summer was spent on making collections."

Limbaugh said he could have gone back to law school at the end of the summer. But he had a wife and baby, which he said was "a factor" in his decision to remain in Cape Girardeau.

Limbaugh started his own law practice in the fall of 1916, at a time when there were only 28 or 30 practicing lawyers in the entire county.

In his first year as an attorney, Limbaugh made less than $500. He couldn't afford a car, so he walked to work. Limbaugh said he bought his first car, a second-hand Dodge, in 1922.

"They were not walled in like our cars are now," said Limbaugh. "You drove an open car except in bad weather. If you were caught in the rain, you had to put up the curtains."

In 1917, Limbaugh was hired as city attorney, prosecuting cases in municipal court. "That was just a sideline for me, serving as city attorney," he said. "I was paid $3 for every conviction that I was able to secure."

Defense attorneys, he recalled with amusement, often maintained that his real purpose for getting a conviction was to obtain the $3 fee.

Limbaugh served as city attorney until the city adopted a commission form of government in 1918.

He returned to a city government role in 1924, and served as city counselor for the next six years. In his job, he advised the city council.

"That was when the building of concrete roads and streets began," remembered Limbaugh. "I worked days and nights many times providing for the building of new streets."

The city limits also were expanded during Limbaugh's tenure as city counselor.

Limbaugh recalled that in 1928 as city counselor he argued a case before the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, D.C., voicing the city's support for the Missouri Pacific Railroad's plan to extend service to Cape Girardeau. At that time, the Frisco Railroad was the only rail line serving the city and "there was no competition," said Limbaugh.

The commission sided with the city, opening up the way for additional rail service. "We considered that quite a break for the city," said Limbaugh.

In the 1930s, he authored two reference volumes on Missouri probate law.

He served as a state representative in 1931-32, and actively worked for creation of the Missouri Highway Patrol and consolidation of public school districts.

During his one term, Limbaugh represented the Missouri House in the impeachment of the state treasurer.

Limbaugh was 40 years old when he was elected to the legislature. In those days, the pay was low. "We received $5 a day for our service in the entire term and railroad fare from home to Jefferson City and back." A term lasted 60 to 90 days.

Limbaugh said he got out of politics because "I had a law practice that I just couldn't afford to neglect more than I had."

A lifelong Republican, Limbaugh was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1936. He served as chairman of the Cape Girardeau County Republican Committee for 10 years.

During World War II, he served briefly as prosecuting attorney for Cape Girardeau County.

In his legal career, Limbaugh has handled four murder cases as a defense attorney. "I batted .500," said Limbaugh, noting that in two cases his clients were cleared and in the other two, they were convicted.

The law has changed a lot over the years, Limbaugh said. When he started out, there were fewer attorneys and fewer laws to deal with.

In those days, attorneys handled everything from civil suits to criminal cases. "It's impossible now for a lawyer to be an expert in all fields of the law," said Limbaugh.

In an interview with a reporter several years ago, Limbaugh recalled, "There was a time when a lawyer could confine his workshop in a single office bereft of all furnishings and equipment, except a table, three chairs, a set of the latest Missouri Revised Statues, a typewriter and a spittoon."

When Limbaugh began practicing law, there were Justice of the Peace Courts where less serious cases were handled. Sometimes those cases were heard at the homes of such judges or on the judges' front porches, Limbaugh said.

Courtroom trials attracted the interest of the general public. "In those days, people attended court out of curiosity and interest. We usually had a large number of people in attendance at any trial."

Limbaugh has strong ties to Southeast Missouri State University. Not only did he attend school there, but he subsequently served for more than 40 years as the school's attorney. That job was passed on to other members of his firm in the 1960s and the firm today continues to handle the university's legal business, he said.

Limbaugh said that in 1922, he handled his first legal work for the university. At that time, Louis Houck was president of the Board of Regents, Limbaugh recalled.

Houck loomed large in the early history of the university. A railroad builder, lawyer, historian and author, he served on the Board of Regents for 39 years.

"He was a very versatile man," said Limbaugh. "He could attend to a lot of things at the same time. He was a man who was very proud of the Normal School; he had given a great deal of time to it."

Even in the 1920s, when cars were appearing on city streets, Houck would travel from his rural home to the city in a buggy pulled by an old gray mare, Limbaugh said.

"I think he took to cars rather sparingly," said Limbaugh. "If you saw him once, you would always remember him. He was one of those unforgetful characters."

In Limbaugh's lifetime, there have been a lot of changes in Cape Girardeau.

The longtime civic leader remembers Cape Girardeau before there was a Mississippi River Bridge, a flood wall along the riverfront, a Marquette Hotel (now vacant) or an old shoe factory (now demolished). He remembers when the city had dirt streets and used street cars, and the Royal N'Orleans Restaurant was a theater.

Limbaugh attended the ceremony marking the opening of the Mississippi River bridge in 1928.

He remembers when Houck Stadium was built in 1930, constructed on the site of an old quarry.

He also remembers when President William Howard Taft visited Cape Girardeau on Oct. 26, 1909, and spoke before a large crowd in front of Academic Hall on the university campus. Limbaugh was 18 at the time.

"He came on a boat from St. Louis ... at a time when they were boosting transportation on the Mississippi River," said Limbaugh.

U.S. Marshal Edward F. Regenhardt accompanied Taft to the university campus, recalled Limbaugh. "It was a large crowd for that day," he said. "I remember quite well when Taft was introduced. He responded to his introduction by saying, `I'm glad to meet all of you here this morning and for a particular reason, I've been greeted here by a man who is bigger than I am.'

"Taft was an immense man," said Limbaugh. "I think he weighed over 400 pounds at one time. And the man who was bigger was Edward F. Regenhardt."

Limbaugh pointed out that Regenhardt also was the contractor who built Academic Hall.

On May 21, 1949, Limbaugh's house on Henderson Avenue was damaged when a tornado swept through Cape Girardeau, killing 22 people.

Fortunately, no one was home at the time. The Limbaughs were attending Rush Jr.'s wedding in Kennett. They returned home to find "the roof was taken off and the second story walls were very damaged," Limbaugh recalled.

In 1958, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department, Limbaugh lectured in India before lawyers, judges and university students on the subject of the United States' constitutional government and judicial system.

Limbaugh spent six weeks in India. "It was very interesting and it gave me an opportunity to review again what I had learned in school about our government.

"I became, I think, a better citizen as a result of the experience," said Limbaugh.

For many people today, the Great Depression was just a chapter in a history book. But Limbaugh still remembers the hard times.

"It was one of the saddest times that Cape Girardeau has ever seen," he recalled. "It was a period of very hard times, a lot of people out of work. People who were engaged in business, they suffered losses and the living conditions declined.

"The farmers suffered terribly, too," said Limbaugh.

The Depression, he said, is just a distant memory to many. "It's so far away, largely forgotten."

But Limbaugh hasn't forgotten. At nearly 100 years old, he optimistically looks to the future, with the past etched indelibly in his mind.