Published: March 16, 2009 09:56 pm      

Longtime Beckley lawyer remembered as gentleman

“Gentleman.”

That might be the best and most common adjective used in describing William H. File Jr., a longtime Beckley attorney who passed Sunday after a brief illness.

“If you tried to cast someone in a movie as a respectful attorney from a small, southern town, that was Mr. File,” Beckley Area Foundation president Susan Landis said of File, who died at the age of 94 while awaiting open heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.

Aside from a four-year stint during which he served the United States during World War II, File had served the citizens of southern West Virginia since 1937 as a member of File, Payne, Scherer and File, a firm started by his uncle Ashton File in 1902.

File’s time in the Navy was anything but uneventful, as he witnessed first-hand the invasions of Normandy and Sicily and, shortly after the invasion of Okinawa, was involved in a kamikaze attack off the coast.

During the attack, the ship of which he was the commanding officer served as a rescue boat of sorts for the crew of the larger USS Callaghan, which exploded and sank after it was struck by a kamikaze.

For his service, File received a Legion of Merit as well as a Silver Star.

Upon his discharge from the Navy, File returned to the firm and he and his wife Marjorie Wriston File, who passed away in 2006, raised their four children, Robert, William III, John and Susan.

His love for the legal profession was passed on to his children with his sons going on to become lawyers and Susan marrying Ed Payne, a longtime member of the firm.

“He never pushed us to become lawyers,” Robert said of his father. “I guess we just respected him and wanted to follow in his footsteps.”

Not only did his sons follow him into the legal profession, they also joined the firm where both Robert and Bill remain today.

“I think that meant a lot to him,” Bill said. “It certainly meant a lot to us.”

“I was proud to be a part of that legacy and very fortunate to have him be such a tremendous mentor to me,” added John, who left the firm to work as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.

Although File technically retired from the firm about four years ago, he never really stepped away as he, up until two weeks before his death, continued going to the office every day, acting as sort of a counsel to the firm.

“He was at his office the day before he got sick,” John said. “He was just very interested in all aspects of law.”

File remained independent in all aspects of life, living and driving on his own and keeping up with all things he found interesting.

“He was inspirational to us and I think to a lot of people because he kept living his life well into his 90s,” John said, explaining his father kept up with hard news as well as pop culture. “He went to the movies, sometimes by himself. He loved ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and he even went to a 3-D movie not too long ago and wore the glasses.

“Age was just not a barrier to him at all,” he added. “He just pushed himself and lived as fully as he could.”

File was also an active member of the First Christian Church of Christ, and often took pies to elderly members of the church, those who were sick or had deaths in their families or to people who simply could not leave their homes.

“He was a fine Christian gentleman,” the Rev. Don Snyder said. “He will be missed not only for his leadership, but just because he was a fine man.”

Attorney Robert Sayre, who was File’s neighbor for more than 40 years, agreed.

“We will all miss him,” he said. “We’ll miss him because he was the type of person that we needed not only as a lawyer, but as a citizen.”

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In addition to his children, File leaves behind eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.