Howard P. Rives collection

Howard P. Rives was born on September 20, 1923, in Shelbyville, Ky and moved to Clearwater, FL in 1924 with his parents. Growing up in Dunedin, FL, he enrolled in local schools and Florida Military Academy, which was then located in St. Petersburg on the site of Stetson Law College. His freshman year of college was at The Citadel in 1941 and then the University of Florida in 1942.

Rives joined the U.S. Army in November 1942. After basic training at Camp Wheeler, Ga., he attended and graduated on September 3, 1943 from Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, GA as a Second lieutenant of Infantry at 19. On his 20th birthday, he reported to Company D, 301st Infantry, Regiment, 94th Infantry Division. Assigned as a machine gun platoon leader, he landed in France, September 1, 1944 with the Division. Thereafter, leading that unit in the campaigns of France, Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe, he earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Silver Star Medal, Bronze Star Medal, and Purple Heart Medal. The 94th Division spearheaded General George S. Patton's "Ghost Corps" dash by the 3rd Army to the Rhine and the capture of Ludwigshafen. The 94th was assigned occupation duties in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war in the ETO. Rives began terminal leave as a captain in February 1946 and entered law school. He continued serving in the U.S. Army Reserves until 1958 at the rank of Major. He graduated from the University of Florida College of Law in January 1949, entered practice in Clearwater with Alfred P. Marshall, who was appointed to the office of circuit judge in 1957 by Governor Collins.

After several partnerships, Rives formed the firm of Rives & Rives with his son Howard P. Rives III. He left private practice after 37 years to be a circuit judge for 20 years in January 1985, with his son taking over the firm.

Rives served as president of the Clearwater Bar; four years as a member of the Board of Governors of The Florida Bar; eight years as an officer, board member and as president of The Florida Bar Foundation; 12 years as a city attorney for one or more municipalities of Pinellas County; an appointed term as an assistant state attorney; in community service as vice president of the Clearwater Chamber of Commerce; more than 50 years as a member of The Rotary Club of Clearwater; a board member and president of The Morton Plant Hospital Foundation; a member of The Donald Roebling Society; a deacon of Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church; a deacon and life elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Dunedin; more than a 50-year member of Clearwater Lodge 127 F & AM; a past member of Tampa Consistory Scottish Rite and Egypt Temple Shrine; 12 years as a director of Sun Banks in Pinellas County; a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary; a member of The Paul Tulane Society of Tulane University; a co-trustee of The John T. and Winifred M. Hayward Foundation; a life member of The 94th Combat Infantry Division Association; charter member of the Clearwater Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, and recipient of their Silver Good Citizenship Medal, as well as the 17th recipient of The Medal of Honor from The National Society of The Daughters of The American Revolution.

Rives passed June 5, 2005, at Morton Plant Hospital, Clearwater, FL and is buried in Serenity Gardens Memorial Park, Largo, FL. He was married 39 years to Browder Walker Rives.