When 30-year-old Linda Thomas took the bench Jan. 1, 1979, she was touted as the youngest judge in Dallas. She steps down at the end of this month as chief justice of the 5th Court of Appeals – the longest-serving judge in the state.

Thomas, 61, leaves the bench after serving three times as long as most state judges.

"I had some goals that I wanted to accomplish in the judiciary and feel that I have accomplished those goals," she said. "So now I'm ready to move on."

Ironically, in recent years, reducing judicial turnover was one of those goals, which is why she championed the cause of raising judicial pay in 2005.

"Judges hadn't had a pay raise in over seven years, and we were continuing to lose very good judges," she said.

Salaries were raised, and Thomas would like to see retirement benefits improved as well. But recent knee surgery and a desire to work in mediation, to teach and do volunteer work convinced her it was time to leave that battle to others.

"I do want to leave while I still have some good years left," she said.

"I certainly am not viewing this as retirement. I'm just kind of hanging up the robe."

Friends and supporters, who have stuck with her through her switch from Democrat to Republican and seven elections, are sorry to see her go. During those campaigns, Thomas drew an opponent only twice.

"I would hope [that's] because I did a good job and people didn't see the need to run against me," she said.

Her colleague, John Cayce, chief justice of the 2nd Court of Appeals, said Thomas' departure "is going to leave a huge vacuum of leadership that no one of our generation can possibly fill. She is one of the state's most respected jurists and one of our most courageous and dedicated leaders."

Those who know Thomas say one of the most remarkable aspects of her career is how her down-to-earth persona hasn't changed as she climbed the career ladder. The ascent is one she didn't plan when she was first licensed – as a hairdresser.

"That was my mother's profession," Thomas said of the license she received while still at Spruce High School. "It was something she particularly wanted me to do – but I also saw that as a way to earn money."

After graduation, she married briefly and then took a secretarial job at a small law firm. Though she considered becoming a high school counselor, she got hooked on the law.

"They sent me to the courthouse to do something, and I never came back," she said. "I loved the client interaction. I loved the courthouse itself, the interaction with the judges, the interviewing witnesses. I just loved all of it."

Attorney John Withers Sr. not only encouraged Thomas to get her bachelor's degree and go to law school, he tutored her. "I taught her algebra every day at noon," he said. Though she had a long way to go, "I figured she could do almost anything she set her mind to."

Thomas worked during the day and attended the University of Texas at Arlington at night. Immediately after graduation, she started law school at Southern Methodist University, graduating in 1973.

The next day, she went to work as associate director of the SMU legal clinic, then worked briefly in California for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Upon returning to Dallas, Thomas went into private practice, specializing in family law.

When she heard about a new judicial opening in a family court in 1978, Thomas decided to pursue it, despite relatively little experience.

"I had something that I could offer," Thomas said, including personal experience. Not only was she divorced, but so were her parents. "At one time, I probably was the only judge here in Dallas that had come from divorced parents," she said.

Withers agreed to serve as her campaign treasurer – a post he held in all of her elections.

Thomas won the Democratic nomination, despite a "desperate last-ditch effort to brand her as a 'feminist,' " news stories said.

But Thomas was not a particularly ardent Democrat, and in 1981, she became a Republican, like most of her friends. If she were running for election now, she said, she'd remain a Republican, but party politics don't interest her much.

"I'm not an ardent anything," she said, "except an ardent proponent of a qualified stable judiciary."

After eight years in family court, Thomas wanted a less-stressful job. In criminal court, "you see bad people acting their best in your courtroom," she said. But in family court, "we would see very good people acting their worst. The emotions are raw – you're talking about their children, you're talking about their money, you're talking about their very being."

In 1986, Thomas won a seat on the appellate court and never left.

"I like this job," she said, explaining why she never sought higher office. "I love our docket."

The types of cases vary and afford her an ability to ponder legal philosophy, which she had little time for in law school. Plus, "we actually make a lot of law at this level, so you are making a contribution," she said.

Of all the cases she's handled, Thomas is proudest of one that recognized paralegals as professionals, setting out when lawyers could charge separately for their work.

"It is still the law in the state," the former legal assistant said. Lawyers save time, clients save money and "it establishes legal assistant paralegals as professionals."

"To me, that's beneficial to everybody."

Thomas became chief justice of the court in 1995. "The court was 101 years old," she said, "and I was the first female chief."

Her response to the pressure of being a first was to say that she hoped she didn't "screw it up."

"My goal as chief was when I leave, I hope that whoever comes in here, and if it's a woman, that it's not a newsworthy event that it's a woman."

Legal observers say she achieved that goal. A check of legal watchdogs, such as the State Bar of Texas, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Texas Ethics Commission turned up no complaints against her.

"Look over history in our state," Cayce said, "and you're only going to find possibly a handful of people who have served as long, with as much distinction as she has."

Title: Chief Justice, 5th Court of Appeals

Date of birth: March 3, 1948

Education: B.A. in government, University of Texas at Arlington, 1970; J.D., Southern Methodist University School of Law, 1973

Employment: Associate director SMU Legal Clinic, 1973-74; attorney, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, 1974-75; sole practitioner, 1975-77; partner at Martin, Harrison and Withers, 1977-79; judge, 256th Judicial District (family) court, 1979-87; judge, 5th Court of Appeals, 1987-95; chief justice, 5th Court of Appeals, 1995-present

Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Judge Carolyn Wright of Heath as chief justice of Texas' 5th District Court of Appeals to replace Linda Thomas, effective Oct. 31. Wright, an associate justice on the 5th District Court of Appeals, where she has served for 14 years, will be the first black judge to serve as chief justice of any intermediate appellate court in Texas. She received her bachelor's degree from the District of Columbia Teachers College and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law.