Armed with many memories of his childhood in Franklin and rural Simpson County, Kentucky, Retired Circuit Judge William Robey Harris Jr. visited with the Elkton Rotary Club Wednesday afternoon.
Since retiring as Circuit Judge in 2006 after 17 years on the bench, 82-year-old Harris has stayed busy, notably publishing two books in recent years, starting with “Spit and Polish: A Kentucky Boy’s Coming of Age in a Tennessee Military School” in 2022.
His most recent book, “A Kentucky Boy With No Sense: An Old Judge Recounts His Boyhood Misadventures in Franklin, Kentucky,” published earlier this year, retells numerous childhood memories—both good and bad.
One chapter of his book, for instance, delves into the Ground Observer Corps Defending America.
The book also covers segregation in the 1940s and 50s in Franklin, features a chapter titled ‘A Week in Hell at Camp Currie,’ and details his experiences listening to veterans’ stories.
Harris encouraged Rotarians to document their memories, so those stories aren’t lost when they’re gone.
Harris now finds himself working on another potential project, researching two legal hangings that took place in Simpson County in 1866. They were charged in connection with a murder and a train robbery.
Harris’s book, “A Kentucky Boy With No Sense: An Old Judge Recounts His Boyhood Misadventures in Franklin, Kentucky,” can be purchased on Amazon.
