b"OBITUARYWilliam Harold 'Sonny' Flowers, Jr.3/22/19467/29/2020By DCC Judge, Gary Jackson hisschoolyearinBoulderandhis He was trained as a Trial LawyerSonnywasbayonettedbyNational summersinArkansas.So,Sonnyby his years in the Adams CountyGuard while participating in a protest saw firsthand the evils of discrimina- DAs office in New Mexico. Notwithstanding these T hose of you who do not know me per- tion and segregation from living with HewaspartnerwithPenfeldW.serious incidents, Sonny has kept his sonally, I was President of Americanhis father in the summer. His FatherTate, II, The First and Only Blackeyes on the prize to be the best trial Board of Tiral Advocates in 2009. taught him to shoot a gun so that heMayor in a Denver office that waslawyer that he could be and to advance Thankyouforthishonorofallow- could protect his 8 brothers and sis- several blocks from my Law Firm;thecauseofEqualJusticewhenever ing me to talk about Sonny. We haveter in times of trouble from the KKKhe could.been friends for 56 years, meeting inandtheSegregationists.HisMother HewasasolopractitionerinNoneofthiscouldhaveoccurred 1964 on the Boulder Campus when weinstilled in him a global view. She sentBoulder after Penfield Tate took awithouthislifepartnerof40years, were both Sophomores. In those days,Sonny to Spain for a semester in theposition with CSU; PamFlowerswhosupportedSonny out of 20,000 students there may have9th grade to further his education. HewasrecruitedbyHolland&in all of his professional endeavors as been30Blackstudents.HewasonSonnyandIwereroommatesatHart to be a partner in their firmwell as being a partner in all the fun thefamousHillridinghisbike.HeCU for several years and entered CUwhere he practiced for 8 years as athings that we have done together;saw me and came over and introducedLawSchooltogetherin1967.TherePlaintiff Tort Lawyer;himself. I was a transfer student fromwas one other Black law student, no The last 10 years he has practiced Our travels to CU basketball and the University of Redlands and it wasAsians, or Hispanic Americans, in ourinBoulderwithHurth,Sisk&footballgamesacrossthecounty my first day on Campus. class and four women. Blakemore; (photo)Iwillbeginmyremarksbysaying1968, the Spring of first year in Law Sonnyhasbeenaleaderinthe OurAnnualConstitutionalLaw Sonny loved being a trial lawyer and heSchool, was a traumatic year for bothprofessionandhiscompasshasRetreat for 40 years at my family loved Abota and its members, Plaintiffof us. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., andalways pointed North: cabin; (photo)and Defense Counsel. Sonnys legacyRobertKennedywereassassinated. PresidentoftheSamCaryBar Annualpigroastpartyforthirty tothiscommunityisthathewasaThat Summer Sonny went to New YorkAssociation in 1991, one year afteryears;fearless trial lawyer and that he wasto work and ended up becoming affili- I was President;Ski and fishing trips;a champion for diversity in everythingated with the Black Panthers. I went that he did. toOaklandtoworkforthesummer PresidentoftheBoulderBar Trips to Marthas vineyard to see Sonnyhadasmileaswideastheand ended up observing the activitiesAssociationintheyearthatittheBlackWhiteHouseinOaks ocean,aheartasbigasthemoon,ofthePanthersinCalifornia.Thatcelebrateditsonehundred-yearBluff;anintellectasdeepastheGrandSummerhadanimmenseimpactonexistence;TripstoKCC,Missouri,toenjoy Canyon.Itookthatdescriptionfromboth of us and our role as Black men PresidentofCTLAandCo-ChairtheNegroBaseballMuseumand a Facebook posting by John Sadwith,inoursociety.Webothtookitveryof the Summer Convention for 16the best ribs in the country;the Retired Executive Director of CTLAseriously that CU, both the Law Schoolyears;OurnumerousAbotaandCTLA and a longtime friend of Sonny. and undergraduate school, had to step upintermsofadmittingBlackand PresidentofAmericanBoardofConventions throughout the State SonnyhadnochoiceinbeingaLatinostudents,thehiringofBlack,Trial Advocates and the Country.championandaleader.HisMotherLatino and Women professors. Sonny President of CU Law School AlumniSonny lived a life well lived and has had a Law Degree, a PHD in Romanceand I have had each others back inBoard enrichedmylife.Althoughheisnot languageandaPHDinLiterature.these efforts. Sonny was aggressive inhere, I know that he is watching my She was one of the first Black Publichis efforts. Some of you may have seen RecipientoftheGeorgeNorlinback as I make good trouble.SchoolteachersinBoulder.SonnysSonnyinaphotothatdisplayshimAward,thehighestAwardanPam Flowers and I extend our grat-Dad was an iconic civil rights lawyer incarrying a gun. Sonny was a believerAlumni of CU may receive itudetothe100sofE-Mailsand the 40s through the 60s and led theintheSecondAmendmentsincehisLifehasnotalwaysbeenrosyforMessages sent to Sonny and Pam while desegregation efforts in Arkansas. HeDadhadtaughthimthatitwashisSonny as a Black man despite theseSonny was fighting cancer. Those who was one of the early Presidents of theresponsibilitytoprotecthisbrothersleadershippositionsLikemostblackcare to make a donation should send a National Bar Association in the yearsand sisters from harm. men,therehavebeenconfrontationscheck to The Penfield W. Tate, II, Law whenBlacklawyerswerenotadmit- UponGraduationfromCULawwiththepolice:DrivingwhileBlack;Scholarship for students who want to ted to the American Bar Association.School Sonny has had a diverse legaldriving while Black with a White womanbe Civil Rights Lawyers.Sonnysparentsdivorcedatanearlycareer: haveoccurredinSonnysHistory; age but shared custody. Sonny spent 12 SEPTEMBER 2020 BOCNEWS.com"