Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame: Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy, Legal Trailblazer

Elsijane Trimble Roy from 1936

Judge Elsijane Trimble Roy is a woman of many firsts.

She was Arkansas’ first female circuit judge and first female supreme court justice, the first female federal judge in Arkansas and the first Arkansas woman to follow her father as a federal judge. Roy left a lasting legacy upon the state, opening many doors for other women in the legal field. Her induction into the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame is not only well-deserved, but is a testament to her career.

Born on April 2, 1916, in the small town of Lonoke, Elsijane Trimble was the oldest of five children of Judge Thomas Clark Trimble III and Elsie Walls. She was surrounded by lawyers in the family, including her father, who served as a federal judge from 1937 to 1957.

Following in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer wasn’t Roy’s first career path choice, however.

“She always thought she wanted to be a lawyer because she really loved and respected her daddy,” said Roy’s son Jim. “Then she heard two words that changed that: Amelia Earhart. She wanted to be an aviatrix.”

Her uncle, who was a crop duster, took Roy on a plane ride. Roy’s mother was none too pleased when she found out the two had flown underneath a bridge along the Arkansas River. That put an abrupt end to Roy’s aviation career. After that, she decided to pursue the family profession to become a lawyer.

Jim Roy credits some of his mother’s success to the personality traits she acquired while playing various sports growing up, including tennis, basketball and football.

“I think the competition, and competing with boys, I think that had a lot to do with it,” Jim said. “But she also had a desire — she believed that she had a calling and that she was called to serve people.”

After high school, Roy entered the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, where she was the women’s singles and mixed doubles tennis champion for two years. She completed undergraduate studies and law school in five years and was the only woman to graduate from the University of Arkansas School of Law in 1939. At the time, she was only the third woman to graduate from UA with a law degree.

She was admitted to the bar the same year as graduation and joined the law firm of W. W. McCrary Jr. in Lonoke. Between 1940 and 1942, Trimble was a state attorney for the Revenue Department, and from 1942 to 1944, she worked in the Office of Price Administration, where she was the chief price attorney.

Trimble married a law school classmate, James Morrison Roy, in 1944, and moved to Houston, where he worked for the FBI. In December 1946, they had a son. The following year, the Roys returned to Arkansas, moving to Blytheville. There, she and her husband established Blytheville’s first husband-and-wife law firm, Roy and Roy, which lasted until 1963. Between 1963 and 1966, Roy was the law clerk for Justice Frank Holt of the Arkansas Supreme Court. She and her husband divorced on June 30, 1967.

In 1966, Roy became the first woman judge in Arkansas when Governor Orval Faubus appointed her as a justice for the Sixth District Court, where she served from April to December. She served as an assistant attorney general for the State of Arkansas between February and May 1967.

From May 1967 until 1975, with the exception of a few months in 1969-70, Roy served as a law clerk for Federal District Court Judges Gordon E. Young (1967-1969) and Paul X. Williams (1970-1975).

Governor David Pryor appointed her the first woman judge on the Arkansas Supreme Court in 1975, where she served until 1977, when Pryor recommended her for a federal judgeship in the Eastern Judicial District of Arkansas upon the retirement of Judge Oren Harris.

On Oct. 21, 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Roy to be the first woman federal district court judge in the Eighth Circuit, as recommended by Senators Dale Bumpers and John L. McClellan, and the U.S. Senate confirmed her on November 1, 1977. Roy occupied the position for 21 years, taking senior status in 1989 and retiring in 1999.

Roy served as federal judge in the same courtroom her father had. Jim Roy said the room was filled with photographs of past judges, and the photo of her father was directly across from her when she sat in the judge’s seat.

Jim said she often looked at her father’s photograph when making difficult decisions.

It can’t be denied that Elsijane Trimble Roy has left a lasting impression upon the state of Arkansas. Her career set a precedent for the women in her field for decades to come. But it wasn’t just her career for which Roy is remembered — she was also a woman of high moral character.

“She had the reputation for integrity, courage and kindness,” Jim Roy said. “I think that was her great strength. If she read something about you in the newspaper that was good, she’d cut it out and mail it to you with a note.”

Discover more about the Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame Class of 2017.