VALDOSTA — Well-wishers crowded the second-floor courtroom of Lowndes County’s Historic Courthouse Thursday afternoon to celebrate the retirement of Chief Judge Richard W. Cowart.

Cowart will step down from the bench when his current term ends Dec. 31, but he plans to remain as a senior judge, who can perform a variety of tasks in the Southern Judicial Circuit, including hearing cases when necessary.

Cowart’s successor on the bench, William Whitesell, was elected in May and will take office as a judge in January. The role of chief judge will go to the next most senior Superior Court judge in the circuit, Judge Brian McDaniel of Moultrie.

A Valdosta native and Valdosta State graduate, Cowart began his legal career in 1976. He was sworn in as a part-time judge in Recorders Court — Valdosta’s municipal court — in 1978. He became a part-time judge of State Court in 1983 and took it on full-time in 1991. Then, in 1995, he was appointed to the Superior Court by Gov. Zell Miller.

“I never set out to be a judge,” Cowart confided to the crowd. “… I was just trying to support my family. … I took the job in Recorders Court because it paid $600 a month.”

He recounted that he was researching taxes in the courthouse — now the Historic Courthouse — when he felt the hand of God. The information he was looking through was in the back of the courtroom, and with no one else around, he followed a whim and sat in the judge’s chair behind the bench.

“The Lord spoke to me — he didn’t speak audibly — but the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Maybe this is what you’re supposed to do,’” Cowart recalled.

Other speakers at Thursday’s event seemed to agree. County Commission Chairman Bill Slaughter called Cowart “a true Southern gentleman” and described him as honest, fair and cordial. Others saluted the way he lived out his Christian faith. Superior Court Judge Greg Voyles praised him for the standards he set that his fellow judges strive to emulate.

“The judge you see on the bench — calm, never getting flustered or frustrated — is the same judge we see back in the office,” Voyles said.

Slaughter presented Cowart with a proclamation from the county commission, naming Nov. 21, 2024, as Judge Richard M. Cowart Day.

County Administrator Paige Dukes gave Cowart a wooden bowl that was made from a pecan tree that had been removed from the site of the Judicial Complex and crafted by a local woodturner.

The Valdosta Bar Association presented a portrait of the judge that will be displayed at the Judicial Complex beside the portrait of the late Judge Arthur McLane. McLane, who died in 2022, was chief judge before Cowart. They served in the court together for many years and were close friends.

“I talked to him every day,” Cowart said. “Even after he retired, I probably talked with him two or three times a week. I miss him.”