Not a Number, My Mother

by Brianna Laybourn

My mother is a factual and objective woman.  Ask her how many cases she’s litigated and where , and she’ll have an answer.  I will not be surprised when this number is phenomenal.  The fact I want to deal with is that Joyce Kimbler (nee Laybourn) is my mother.

She raised my brother and I as single mother starting when I was six and up until she remarried when I was nineteen.  By the time she marries James Kimbler she had been working as a litigator for 11 years full time.  She had tried many cases in actual court rooms.  But she did this, as many single mothers do, with endurance and fortitude.  When my father left us he cleaned out the bank account and took all the furniture.  My mother literally has had to start from scratch.  This has made her a fair and compassionate advocate of the clients put in her charge.  She would work second job teaching paralegals each year so my brother and I could have a Florida vacation.  Christmas always came after the new year when everything was put on clearance.

My mother told us always to be objective even if the reality was harsh.  So I can say objectively Joyce Laybourn Kimbler has the qualifications to make an excellent judge.  I am so very proud to be her daughter.