GAITHER WILSON HORDE, JR., R.I.P.

My grandmother would have said hubristic WILSON HORDE was "typical of his type" -- a corporate lawyer bully. Pray for him, my friends. 

Think of living 97 years. What he knew.  What he helped accomplish (or prevent), or coverup. 

GAITHER WILSON HORDE, JR. was a wily corporate lawyer whose stubborn resistance to worker rights resembled segregationists' battles against civil rights, in a county where segregationists blew up Clinton High School on October 5, 1956 and were never prosecuted.

In 1977, the very first "robot" or "robot" form letter ever created by the staff of a idealistic lucky freshman Democratic U.S. Senator from Tennessee was a running joke among his staff: a response to nearly 100 canned letters requesting that Senator James R. Sasser ask President Jimmy Carter to appoint GAITHER WILSON HORDE, Jr. the Oak Ridge Union Carbide Nuclear Division General Counsel as President Carter's United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee.  Oak Ridge oligarchs favored HORDE, who did not get the job.  Thank God. 

On February 5, 1992, HORDE made chauvinistic remarks about an Oak Ridge cancer survivor, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory worker punished by assignment to  Room R-151, three free from radioactive waste barrels, quoted in The New York Times.  

Later that year, HORDE demanded a deposition from Mr. Varnadore's wife, Mrs. Fran Varnadore, saying "he's always wanted to know what's going on in the mind of a red headed woman!" Sexist misogynist creep,   Heroic U.S. Department of Labor District Chief Administrative Law Judge Theodor von Brand ordered that HORDE could not see her medical file, and that it would be provided only to E.H Rayson and John B. Rayson, lead lawyers for the respondents.  HORDE ululated and threatened my co-counsel while I was in the air, flying to Knoxville for the preheating conference, attempting to play them against me. 

HORDE later helped get me disbarred from the practice of law in the State of Tennessee, 

From this blog:

February 5, 1992

Time flies. It was 32 years ago:

On February 5, 1992, I was up early in the Northeast Washington, D.C. arctic cold.  I ducked down an. alley adjoining Brian's apartment, walked into a 7-Eleven and bought The New York Times.  I observed an empty white Econoline van in the alley, chuckling to myself.  The Department of Energy's TSCM vans had made their appearance in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington, and other DoE sites where workers were spied on for raising concerns about horrific working conditions, in some of the most contaminated workplaces n Earth.  But sometimes, a white van is simply a white van .

On this day in 1992, 32 years ago, The New York Times' reporter Matthew L. Wald broke the story of my heroic environmental and nuclear whistleblower client, Charles D. "Bud" Varnadore, of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Thanks to Bud, his wife, Fran, and to Matt, to reporter Erin Hayes and her March 11, 1992 story on Dan Rather's "Eye On America" segment, and to my co-counsel, David A. Stuart, Christopher J. Van Riper, Jacqueline O. Kittrell, of counsel Prof. Robert C. Banks, Jr. , U.S. Department of Labor District Chief Administrative Law Judge Theodor von Brand, honest witnesses who told the truth, and numerous other ethical whistleblowers, three badly mismanaged Department of Energy nuclear weapons plants at Oak Ridge, Tennessee will never be the same again.  

Thank God.  

Mr. Varnadore was assigned a desk three feet from radioactive waste barrels, with Oak Ridge National Laboratory Ph.D. WILBUR DOTREY SHULTS, Analytical Chemistry Division Director, well knowing Bud was a cancer patient with a suppressed immune system.  Dr. SHULTS said in deposition, "I always heard that radiation is good for cancer patients."  ORNL and SHULTS also exposed Mr. Varnadore to mercury waste vapors; Dr. SHULTS said he would "wash his hands in mercury" and "take a bath in mercury," as long as he could cover his "body openings."

This sadistic manager later assigned Bud to a desk in a room contaminated with mercury and other leaking chemicals.  In response to crummy industrial hygiene and sadistic assignment of office space, Dr. SHULTS said he would wash his hands in mercury, even take a bath in mercury, "if I could cover my body openings."

Nuclear weapons facilities had long suppressed worker concerns with sadistic techniques that shock the conscience. William Blake would have called them "dark Satanic mills."  I shudder to think of them.  

The end of the Cold War and the enactment of  environmental whistleblower laws empowered Bud, encouraged by an uppity Yankee, a law review reject, a 1986 Memphis State law grad who had clerked for Nahum Litt, the U.S. Department of Labor Chief Administrative Law Judge, to help put fear on trial.

The transformative case of Varnadore v. Oak Ridge National Laboratory helped transform a peculiar and dysfunctional institution, one that I first got to know as Appalachian Observer Editor, investigating toxic pollution by Union Carbide at the Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant, including the largest mercury pollution event in world history (4.2 million pounds emitted into creeks and groundwater and workers' lungs and brains without any protection for anyone).

Here is that 1992 story, and Bud's 2013 NewYork Times obituary.  Bud appeared on a four minute "Eye on America" segment on CBS Evening News with Dan Rather on March 11, 1992, my mom's birthday.  Mr. Rather later called Bud, a year later, just to check and see how he was doing.

Mr. Vanadore, and his wife Fran, stood up to oppression and helped transform Oak Ridge.

Courage.

Photo credit: Ken Murray, The New York Times, 1992

From Knoxville News-Sentinel:

Gaither Wilson Horde, Jr., age 97, of Knoxville passed away early Friday morning, February 9, 2024, at his home. Wilson is preceded in death by his wife of 62 years, Jacqueline Thompson Horde; brother, Edward Hopson Horde.

He is survived by his children Leslie, Rocky, Kelly, Karen and Laura; grandchildren Dill, Hunter, Aubrey, Hailey, Rory, Jared, Riley, Peyton and Lauren; daughter-in-law Beth; brother, Douglas Rodney Horde.

Wilson grew up in Nashville, and spent many summers in Cadiz, Kentucky. He graduated from Isaac Litton High School; served in the Pacific Theatre with the U.S. Navy (1944-1946) participating in landings at Saipan and Iwo Jima, which instilled his lifelong sense of duty.

Following his military service, he attended Peabody College and Vanderbilt Law School, class of 1951. Wilson began practicing law in Knoxville with Stone, Bozeman, & Horde; served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of TN under Robert F. Kennedy; later served as General Counsel for Union Carbide Nuclear Division and Lockheed Martin Energy Systems for 33 years. He returned to private practice, joining the law firm of Kramer Rayson, where he retired at the youthful age of 90, after practicing law for 66 years.

During his career, his activities and honors included: Jaycee Young Man of the Year for Tennessee; Life Member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference; recipient of the American Inns of Court Professionalism Award for the Six Circuit Court of Appeals, awarded in the chamber of the U.S. Supreme Court by Justice David Souter.

Outside of his career, what defined Wilson was his love of family, quiet generosity, a keen compassion for the less fortunate, particularly children, and a bone-dry wit. When asked how he was doing, his famous reply was, “magnificent”! He used this line so often it became his moniker. His favorite annual event was hosting a truly magical Christmas dinner for all his children and grandchildren.

He cherished his years of fellowship with the “Breakfast Club”, this group of men, and a few brave ladies, met faithfully for 60 years at Rankin Restaurant and Long’s Drug Store.

Leslie, Rocky, Kelly, and Karen want to express their deepest gratitude to their sister Laura for her years of devoted care for their father. The Horde family also wishes to extend their sincerest thanks to Craig Zenner for his commitment to Wilson’s care over the years, as well as Cindy Bayless, for her years of dedication to the care of both our mother and father, Jackie & Wilson. The family will gather at Edgewood Cemetery for a private graveside service on February 16th, the same date as his beloved wife Jackie was buried 6 years ago. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Salvation Army of Knoxville.

Posted online on February 10, 2024

Published in Knoxville News Sentinel