Tales from the Old Days

From time to time, I'm reminded of a funny story from my days at the District Attorney's Office and I think that they might make for a decent blog post.  I was reminded of one of those moments this morning by former-HCDA investigator Steve Januhowski on Facebook, so I thought I'd share.

Back when I was a new-ish prosecutor, a group of prosecutors routinely got together on Wednesdays after work for Steak Night at the Little Woodrow's on W. Alabama (sadly, it has since been demolished).  I coordinated Steak Night and I was pretty religious about attendance.  We usually had anywhere between ten to thirty people show up.

I never missed.  If I didn't leave early from work, I was out the door at 5:00 sharp on Wednesdays.

During my tenure as the Chief of County Court at Law #5, my secretary was the one and only Barbara Eaglin, who was a true institution of the Office.  She had been around for decades, if not centuries and was well known for her good-natured battles with the smart ass baby prosecutors that came through the misdemeanor.  In addition, if a thought entered Barbara's mind, it immediately came right out of her mouth, and it came out loudly.

One Wednesday, my godfather, Jim Cox, called the Office looking for me.  Jim was an older attorney, who was probably in his mid-to-late-60s when this happened.  He didn't practice criminal law and he didn't know Barbara, nor did she have any clue on earth who she was talking to when she answered the phone.  As he would tell me later that the phone call went something like this.

BARBARA:  District Attorney's Office.

JIM:  May I speak to Murray Newman?

BARBARA:  No, he's gone for the day.

JIM:  Oh, that's right.  It's Wednesday.  He must have left early for steak night.

BARBARA:  No.  He left early because it's raining outside and shit floats.

She then hung up the phone.

A True Legend Retires

I somehow missed when this was happening, but a true legend of the Harris County D.A.'s Office apparently retired at the end of 2009.

For those of you at the Office, you know, that, of course, I speak of none other than the legendary, Barbara "Pajama Momma" Eaglin, who had worked as a secretary in the Misdemeanor Division since most of the attorneys now there were in diapers.

Barbara managed to work in the same position for decades with no fashion or hairstyle that she would not try, and with no thought that entered her mind that she didn't share with you -- loudly. She wasn't afraid to tell off defense attorneys, prosecutors, supervisors, investigators, police officers, or any other person who called into the Office.

She is without a doubt one of the funniest human beings I have ever met in my entire life.

My favorite story that I personally experienced with Barbara was when I was the Chief of Court Five. My godfather, Jim, called the Office looking for me one rainy Wednesday afternoon. The conversation went something like this:

JIM: Is Murray in?

BARBARA: Nah. He ain't here.

JIM: Oh, that's right. It's Wednesday. I guess he left early for steak night.
[NOTE: Steak Night was a misdemeanor tradition when I was there where we went and ate steaks at Little Woodrow's on Wednesday nights.]

BARBARA: That ain't why he left! He left 'cause it's starting to rain and sh*t floats.

They just don't make 'em like Barbara anymore. I wish my favorite Pajama Momma well in her well deserved retirement.

Feel free to share your favorite Barbara stories here.