Raul A. Gonzales Jr.

1. Raul grew up in the Rio Grande valley town of Weslaco, Texas, where his parents, farm workers, had come from Mexico. Beginning in early childhood, Raul joined his family in the fields, harvesting cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and cotton. His work in the fields taught him a strong work ethic, and his mother stressed the importance of education.
2. Gonzalez graduated from Weslaco High School in 1959, and after that he participated in the civil rights struggle of the early 1960s.
3. Gonzalez worked as a Houston assistant city attorney in 1966, as an attorney for the Houston Legal Foundation from 1966 to 1969, and as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas in Brownsville from 1969 to 1973. He practiced law privately in Brownsville from 1973 to 1978 and served as a Diocesan attorney for the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville from 1976-1978. Gonzalez' judicial career began in 1978, when Gov. Dolph Briscoe appointed him judge of the 103rd Judicial District.
4. Gonzalez made history as the first Hispanic member of the court. He served in the position from October 1984 until the end of 1998, retiring before his term expired.