德尔玛·戴尔·哈拉森

工商管理硕士，1959年，HSU受托人

德尔玛·戴尔·哈拉森出生于8月7日, 1937, to Delmar and Adah (Barber) Haralson in Colorado City, 德州. 他在洛林以北10英里的一个农场长大, 德州, 和哥哥在一起, 哈尔, 还有弟弟, 肯尼斯. Family life was built around the First Baptist Church, and the boys worked the 400-acre family farm with their father.

1955年从洛林高中毕业后, Haralson enrolled at Hardin-Simmons University where his mother had been a 1928 graduate. 活跃于HSU, 他在学生会任职, 是柯尔特俱乐部和步枪队的主席, 副会长兼会长, was on the Men’s Debate Team and the New Men’s Dorm Council. He played trombone in the Cowboy Band, traveling with the band on the 1958 USO tour.

作为一名美国军官，哈勒森获得了ROTC的委任.S. Army 2nd Lieutenant when he graduated in 1959 from HSU with a B.B.A. 商科学位，副修经济学.

毕业后, 他报到服现役, 完成基本军官课程, 然后加入了现役后备役. Completing seven years of service with the Arizona National Guard, 他升为上尉, and in 1966 as a company commander was named Outstanding Officer in the Arizona National Guard.

Haralson enrolled at the University of 德州 Law School after completing active duty in 1959, then later transferred to the University of Arizona, 1963年他在哪里获得了法学博士学位. He worked a variety of jobs to put himself through law school, 包括给他叔叔放牛吗, 鲍勃的理发师, 他是亚利桑那州的律师兼农场主. He also worked in a car wash, a clothing store, and a gas station. Upon being admitted to the Arizona State Bar in 1963, 他在他叔叔的律师事务所开始执业.

In 1965, he married Betty Hackney, a native Arizonan. They welcomed daughters Kristi in 1970 and Wendy in 1972. A licensed pilot, he and his family have enjoyed flying, scuba diving, and skiing. In 1995, he and Betty were baptized in the Jordan River during a trip to the Holy Land.

Haralson made the choice to become a plaintiff’s trial attorney based on a calling he felt as a sophomore in high school. He knew God wanted him to be a Christian lawyer who represented people who needed help.

In 1970, the case that jump-started Haralson’s career was against GE Corporation for the defective design of an in-home water heater that had caused electrical burns over 35% of the plaintiff’s body while she was taking a shower. The jury returned the highest award that had ever been given for any kind of injury or death in the state of Arizona.

Later cases included the largest death award in the country at the time, in a 1973 case against Southern Pacific Railroad for the family of a man who was killed at a railroad crossing in a rural community. 然后在1984年，他接手了美国. S. 政府，并且赢了. A $2.6 million award was set in federal court in a landmark case that rules the U. S. government was responsible for the cancer deaths of 10 people who lived near open-air nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s and 1960s.

Haralson has served numerous associations and boards, including as president of the Arizona Trial Lawyers Association and as a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates, the Trial Lawyers for Public Justice Board of Governors, and the Civil Justice Foundation Board of Trustees. He has been on the Board of Governors of the Western Trial Lawyers Association since 1976, 担任总统, 副总统, 秘书, 和国会议员.

He served on the University of Arizona Arthritis Advisory Board, was a member of the Tucson General Hospital Trustees, and continues to be active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as trustee emeritus of their national board.

Active in the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Haralson was a seminar speaker for the group and was 副总统 in 1981. While serving as 副总统 and unopposed for the position of president elect, Haralson被诊断出患有喉癌. 化疗后, 两次手术, 放射治疗, he chose not to run for further office in the association. His doctors had given him a less than five percent chance of survival. He attributes his recovery to the loving care from Betty, the prayers of many friends from HSU and their local churches, 以及上帝的治愈能力.

Haralson’s determination and hard work brought him through the personal devastation of cancer, while he continued to fight for the rights of those injured by big corporations. 他获得了许多奖项和荣誉, 2010年, was recognized by the Arizona Association for Justice with the Lifetime Advocate of Civil Justice Award for his 47 years of outstanding advocacy of the civil justice system.

He is on the board of elders of Canyon del Oro Baptist Church where he and Betty are members. His daughters have blessed him with five granddaughters (one of whom is a current student at HSU), and Dale admits he is happily ruled by the women in his life.