Walter Urbigkit

Walter C. Urbigkit Jr. (November 9, 1927 – October 31, 2011) was a member of the Wyoming House of Representatives for Laramie, Wyoming, as a Democrat from 1973 to 1985, including two years as minority leader, and later a justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court from November 1, 1985 to January 1993, serving as chief justice from 1991 to 1993.[2] Urbigkit lost his bid for a second term in a retention election in November 1992.[3] In 1987, Urbigkit was credited by the New York Times for advancing the use of the word "conclusory" in jurisprudence.[4]

Born in Burris, Wyoming to Walter C. and Bertha (Miller) Urbigkit, he graduated from Fremont County Vocational High School in 1945,[5] and then received a B.A. from the University of Wyoming in 1949; he won the University's Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award in 1992.[6] He received a J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1951, and served in the United States Army during the Korean War.[5] He then served as an attorney in the United States Veterans Administration from 1953 to 1955, when he left government to open a private law practice in Cheyenne.[5]