Williamson County commissioners bid farewell to 26th District CourtJudge Billy Ray Stubblefield at their regular meetingOct. 21.

Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution acknowledging the retirement of Stubblefield, who has served the county for 37 years.

The voters of this county in 10 different election cycles put their trust in me to do the best job I can, he said. Ive tried to do that.

Stubblefield began working with the county in 1977 when he was sworn in as the county attorney. He served four consecutive terms.

On Jan. 1, 1993, he was sworn in as judge of the 26th District Court and has served in that capacity since.

In 2010he was sworn in as presiding judge of the Third Administrative Judicial District, and in 2014 Gov. Rick Perry appointed him for a second term.

During his time serving Williamson County he has been part of a number of organizations and helped start the countys domestic violencecrisis center, which is now known as Hope Alliance.

I was absolutely convinced that we needed to have a shelter for victims of family violence, he said.

Stubblefield met with experts whose work dealt with domestic violence victims, and they formed a board in order to move forward with building a shelter.

I was on that board for eight years; when I left we had just purchased a building that was almost ideally suited for a shelter for victims of family violence, he said. The people of this county with outpouring generosity more than made up for the cost of that building within two years. Now its the Hope Alliance; theyre doing great work.

In addition to serving the county, Stubblefield is also licensed to practice in the U.S. District Court for the western district of Texas, U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court.

Stubblefield will continue to serveas presiding judge in the Third Administrative Judicial Region.