Graham B. Purcell Jr.

Graham Boynton Purcell Jr.
Graham Boynton Purcell Jr.
	13th district
	In office; January 27, 1962 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	Frank N. Ikard
Succeeded by	Bob Price
Judge of the 89th Judicial District Court
	In office; 1955–1962
Personal details
Born	May 5, 1919; Texas
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Texas A&M University; Baylor Law School
Occupation	Lawyer
Military service
Branch/service	United States Army
Battles/wars	World War II

Graham Boynton Purcell Jr. (May 5, 1919 – June 11, 2011),

Texas' 13th congressional district

.

Born in

LL.B. in 1949 from Baylor Law School in Waco

, Texas.

Purcell served in the United States Army during World War II from 1941 to 1946 and served thereafter in the United States Army Reserve. He served as judge of the Eighty-ninth Judicial District Court of Texas from 1955 to 1962. He was a delegate to the

Los Angeles and Atlantic City, New Jersey, respectively to nominate the Kennedy-Johnson and the Johnson-Humphrey

tickets, both of which prevailed in Texas.

Purcell was elected to the

special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of fellow Democrat, Representative Frank N. Ikard. He was reelected to the five succeeding congresses (January 27, 1962 – January 3, 1973). In 1966, when John Tower won his second term as U. S. senator, Purcell defeated the Republican

Dillard Carlisle "Bunny" Norwood (1913-1993) of Wichita Falls.

On November 22, 1963, Purcell was riding in the motorcade's third vehicle behind

Dallas

, Texas.

Although Texas gained a seat as a result of the 1970 Census, Purcell's 13th District was dismantled, and his home in Wichita Falls was merged with the

Panhandle-based 18th District of Republican Bob Price

for the 1972 elections. The new district was numerically Purcell's district—the 13th—but was geographically more Price's district. Purcell retained only one-third of his former constituents. Forced to run in territory that he did not know and that did not know him, Purcell was defeated by nine points.

In 1993, House bill HR 2292 was passed designating the federal building in Wichita Falls as the Graham B. Purcell Jr. Post Office and Federal Building.[2] Purcell resided in Wichita Falls until his death at the age of ninety-two.