Portrait from the Texas Bar Journal, Volume 52, Issue 5, 1989.
An attorney based in Rusk, Uvalde, San Antonio, and Houston, Texas, Meek Corrothers Chiles practiced law for nearly five decades. In addition to his law practice, Chiles served Cherokee County, Texas as its County Attorney for four years beginning in the early 1920s. Born in Troup, Texas on February 8, 1892, Meek Correthers Chiles was the son of Meek and Alice Barron Chiles. Little is known of Chiles' early life, except that he was a student in the public schools in the town of his birth. As a young adult, Chiles entered into study at the Southwest Texas Teacher's College, as well as the University of Texas Law School.
Admitted to the Texas bar in 1920, Chiles was elected as Cherokee County Attorney in November of that year. Taking office at the start of the new year, Chiles served in that post until 1925 and afterward was a member of the Houston-based law firm of Fulbright, Crooker, and Freeman from 1923-40. Meek C. Chiles married in June 1923 to Lucretia Morrow (1894-1989), with whom he had one daughter, Martha Alice (1927-2009).
Around 1940 Chiles removed to Uvalde, Texas, where he operated a private practice until 1942 when he relocated to San Antonio. During his residence here he was a member of the firm of Eskridge, Groce, and Chiles, and in 1944 removed to Houston, where he would reside until his death. Chiles' time in Houston saw him continue in the practice of law and from 1948 to 1962 was a partner in the firm of Vinson and Elkins.
Meek C. Chiles died in Houston on July 17, 1988, at the age of 96. He was survived by his wife Lucretia who died the following year at age 94. Both Chiles and his wife were interred at the Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, as was their daughter Martha, who died in 2009. In an aside note, Chiles' middle name is recorded as being spelled several different ways, including Carothers, Corrothers, and Correthers, the last named spelling being the one inscribed on his headstone in Houston.
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