A LAWYER'S PRAYER

Oh, Lord, let me the truth declare

Be just, and treat my clients fair;

Give me the wish to prove each fact

And to live up to my contract.

The power I have, Lord, let me use

For good, and never honor lose,

Deal in a frank and honest way.

And when I am called on Judgment Day

May the angels at the bar record,

That I am ready for trial, Lord.

Ricardo D. Palacios, 75, passed away Saturday, December 15, 2018.  Mr. Palacios was born at the old Mercy Hospital on downtown Jarvis Plaza, Laredo, Texas, to Abraham G. Palacios and Mucia Salinas Palacios, on November 13, 1943.

Pursuant to his request, there will be a memorial service at a later date.

In 1945, Mr. Palacios' parents moved to south Laredo, where for the next dozen or so years, Mr. Palacios grew up exploring and enjoying the deep canyon of Chacon Creek, near the intersection of Green Street and Bartlett Avenue with his buddies Tom Sanchez, Jim Battaglia, Diana Sanchez and Tati Sanchez, and Charlie Leyendecker.

Mr. Palacios attended Ursuline Academy and St. Joseph's Academy.  He graduated from St. Joseph's in 1961.  He served as Treasurer of the Freshman, Sophomore and Junior classes, and Vice President of his Senior Class.  He was active in Student Council, Sodality, Football, and Glee Club.

He attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1966 from Texas A & I University, now Texas A & M Kingsville.

After graduation, he worked for Sanborn's Travel Agency for a number of years, he worked with one of the first twin plants (maquiladoras) on the Laredo border, the Nielsen Company.  Later he worked for Century Papers in San Antonio, where he resigned to begin law school.  He graduated St. Mary's University School of Law, San Antonio December 1970, and was licensed as an attorney at law by the Supreme Court of Texas, in April 1971. He published his first written work at the Law School—Evidentiary Presumptions, St. Mary's Law Journal, Volume Two.

He worked with several Laredo law partnerships, beginning with Mann, Castillon, Freed and Kazen. In the early 1970s, he served as Assistant District Attorney for Webb County, Texas under the late Carlos Castillon, and as First Assistant District Attorney under the late Charles R. Borchers.  In the mid-1970s Mr. Palacios worked as Associate General Counsel for Sanchez-O'Brien Oil and Gas Corporation.  Mr. Palacios ended his law career as a solo practitioner.  He was board certified in Oil and Gas Law, by the State Bar of Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Mr. Palacios became an arbitrator-mediator when that movement began with enabling legislation in 1989.  He mediated over 1000 cases.  Mr. Palacios was General Counsel for the Benavides Family Mineral Trust, from its infancy to 2018.

Mr. Palacios was born into a landed family, land poor as he usually described it, but this gave rise to a tremendous love of the land, the fauna and flora of south Texas.  He spent all of his free time at the ranch, until in the early 1980s when he moved his family to a new house on ranch land near Encinal.  Eventually he inherited land and property from his Tio Juan Salinas.  His association with and love for his Tio Juan for many years led to his writing of Juan Salinas' biography, published by Texas A & M Press in 2007— Tio Cowboy—Juan Salinas, Rodeo Roper and Horseman . He also published a memoir, "Green Street Kid," and a fictional novel, "Chon." His last book, "Judgement Reversed," has not yet been published. He was awarded the Webb County Heritage Foundation Jim Parish Award for Documentation and Publication of Local or Regional History, in 2007.  He also wrote several magazine articles dealing with tie down calf roping and the adventures of his tios Juan and Tony Salinas.  In the opening dedication in Tio Cowboy he thanked the Lord for letting him be at least a little bit of a cowboy.

Mr. Palacios is a descendant of Bartolome Garcia, a descendant of Don Tomas Sanchez, founder of Laredo.  His grandfather Antonio Salinas was born at the museum next to the La Posada Hotel on San Agustin Plaza, and as a young man participated in the 1886 election riot on the Plaza between the Huaraches and the Bota political parties.

At his death Mr. Palacios was a member of the Webb County Heritage Foundation, the Villa de San Agustin Genealogical Society, the State Bar of Texas, the Laredo Webb County Bar Association, the Western Writer's of America, the Texas Folklore Society. Earlier in his life for ten years he was a member of the Laredo Daybreak Rotary Club.  He served as President in 1996-97.  He was a Paul Harris Fellow.

Mr. Palacios was predeceased by his parents Abraham and Mucia Palacios, his brother Abraham Palacios, Jr., his sister Angela Palacios Shipton, and his granddaughter Charlotte Ellis Palacios.  He is survived by his children and grandchildren, Ricardo D. Palacios, Jr. of Encinal TX, George Abraham, Heather and Benicio Palacios of Tulsa OK, Antonio Ignacio, Joelle and Sebastian Palacios of Seattle, WA, and daughter Virginia Elizabeth Palacios of Austin TX.  Mr. Palacios is also survived by his girlfriend, Sarah Lynn Appling and the mother of his children, Catherine M. Link. He is also survived by a large number of cousins, nephews and nieces. A special recognition to his friends Wednesday Lunch Bunch that he formed in the 1990's Jim Battaglia, Guillermo Cavazos, Jerome Jordan, Abe Salinas, Arturo Volpe, Tom Sanchez, Arnulfo Zapata, Guillermo Alarcon, Guillermo Vela, Jesse E. Hines, Homero Martinez and David I. Martinez.  An utmost gratitude to his career secretary, Alicia Johnson.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longs to be.

Home is the sailor, home from the sea

And the hunter home from the hill.

___R. L. Stevenson