When Keith Upchurch was on the courts beat in the 1970s and 80s, he covered Milton Read, who was a District and Superior Court judge.

Editor's note: This is another of occasional stories updating the lives of people profiled in the past by Keith Upchurch, who has been a reporter and editor at The Herald-Sun since 1973.

BY KEITH UPCHURCH

kupchurch@heraldsun.com; 419-6612

DURHAM -- Webster's dictionary defines the word classic as "of the highest class."

That describes Milton Read.

The retired Durham District and Superior Court judge has spent his professional career trying to be an excellent lawyer, prosecutor and judge, and practically everyone agrees he succeeded.

Read, 72, spends about half of his time now at his vacation home at Ocracoke Island, but continues to live in Durham and stay in touch with the many friends he's made here since he graduated from UNC Law School in 1962.

He loves to watch classic movies and shows from the golden age of television, like "Gunsmoke." He and his wife attend as many UNC basketball and football games as they can, and he's traveled the country extensively over the years by way of Amtrak.

"We started back in the 1970s and went out to the West Coast, up through Canada some," he said. "You just crisscross the country. It's fascinating."

Durham continues to be his home, and he thinks often of his courthouse days, and especially of fellow attorneys like Bill Manson, Dan Edwards, Blackwell "Dog" Brogden, Art Vann, Roger Upchurch and Nick Galifianakis, who were friends and in many cases helped him get his start as a practicing attorney.

Read was born in Halifax in 1937 and attended UNC as an undergraduate. He graduated from UNC School of Law in 1962, then worked in Washington, D.C., for a year before returning to Durham.

He and Anthony Brannon of Durham, a former Superior Court judge and Durham County district attorney, set up a law firm in the old North Carolina National Bank building on Main Street downtown.

They were very flexible in the cases they would accept. "We would take anything that came in the door," Read recalled.

In 1966, Read was named chief prosecutor in Durham County District Court and in 1970 was elected district court judge in Durham County. He was later named chief District Court judge.

Read moved up to the Superior Court bench in 1984 when then-Gov. Jim Hunt named him to fill the vacancy created when John Martin of Durham was elected to the N.C. Court of Appeals.

He remained on the Superior Court bench, holding court throughout the state, until he retired in 1995. For about three years after that, he continued to work as an emergency judge, mostly in Durham.

"We used to have a lot unique characters coming in the courtroom," Read recalled. "One of the things that I enjoyed most about the court system was meeting and working with all the different lawyers, jurors, clerks and court personnel -- just different people from different places, especially in Superior Court, when you travel around and meet really good lawyers from all over the state.

"It's a pleasure and very interesting to try a case when you get two good lawyers in Durham and throughout the state going at it in a courtroom."

Throughout it all, Read tried to stick to that bedrock principle that he's always believed in: fairness.

"I tried to be fair," he said. "It's very difficult, but I think it's extremely important in the courtroom."

Read said he looks back on his career now "with a lot of nostalgia."

"I was very fortunate. I'm so glad I came to Durham. The people of Durham have been mighty good to me over the years in re-electing me to the bench. I couldn't have picked a better place to have a career. It's a unique place. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Durham."