Jackson Free Press

Justice Mary Libby Payne, 79, of Pearl is one of 11 recipients of the Mississippi Medal of Service for significant contributions to the state.

Payne was one of the original members of the Mississippi Court of Appeals and was the first woman to serve on the court. She took office in January 1995 and retired July 31, 2001. Payne served in all three branches of state government. She was a legislative draftsman, executive director of the Mississippi Judiciary Commission and assistant state attorney general. Prior to her election to the Court of Appeals, she was a professor of law and founding dean of the Mississippi College School of Law.

"No. 1, I'm retiring because I want to be with my husband," Payne said in 2001. "I want to spend time with the man of my dreams, the man I've been married to for 45 years," she said of husband Bobby Payne. "He's been very supportive of my career. No. 2, I want to write down the spiritual heritage of my grandchildren."

After retirement, Payne was the only female lawyer to receive the national Christian Legal Society's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. She was the second woman to receive the Mississippi Bar's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005 and was awarded the Mississippi Women Lawyer's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Payne is a current board member of the Mississippi Historical Society and has served as scholar in residence and professor emerita of Mississippi College School of Law since 2003. She completed the research and writing of the history of the law school titled "A Goodly Heritage," which is awaiting publication. She attended Mississippi University of Women before transferring to the University of Mississippi and earned a juris doctorate from the University of Mississippi School of Law.

Judge Payne is married to Bobby R. Payne, retired director of central records for the Mississippi Employment Security Commission. They are parents of two sons. The couple is active in the McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl. The Paynes are active in the McLaurin Heights Baptist Church in Pearl and together they hold seminars on the dilemmas and delights of a dual career marriage under the title of Keyfinders. In Dec. 2005 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Payne is also the granddaughter of Joseph Anderson Cook, the first president of the University of Southern Mississippi.

Gov. Haley Barbour also gave the Mississippi Medal of Service to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, Mississippi House Speaker Billy McCoy, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justices Reuben Anderson and Ed Pittman, University of Southern Mississippi President Emeritus Aubrey Lucas, University of Mississippi Chancellor Emeritus Robert Khayat, former Mississippi Board of Education Chairwoman Lucimarian Roberts, Jackson businessmen Jim Barksdale and Cornelius Turner and blues legend B.B. King.