Albert R. Musick, Jr. papers, circa 1890-2007

Albert R. Musick, Jr. was born in 1911 in Knox City, Missouri. He studied at the University of Illinois, where he earned a degree in accounting, and then a law degree in 1936. He enlisted in the U.S. Army prior to World War II. During the war, he served as an infantry instructor and a member of the Counter-Intelligence Corps, and graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth in 1943. He subsequently spent two years at the Pentagon before transferring to the U.S. Army Reserve, from which he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1971.

Musick came to Oregon in 1947 and was admitted to the Oregon State Bar that same year. After working for several years in Portland for the firm Black and Kendall, he founded the law firm Castles & Musick with partner James B. Castles in Beaverton, Oregon, in 1952. It was the first law firm established in Beaverton. Musick worked as the attorney in the formation of the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District.

Musick was appointed to the Circuit Court of Washington County, Oregon, by Governor Mark Hatfield in late 1963 and sworn in on January 2, 1964. There, he was the presiding judge for 12 years of his tenure. He was the first Oregon judge to initiate pretrial procedures for civil law cases, and from 1969 to 1981 was the principal pretrial judge for the court. He retired in 1981 and took senior judge status in 1982.

Musick married Eleanor Virginia Hoyt (1914-2007) in 1941; the couple had a daughter, Felicity. Musick died in May 2007.

Sources: Obituary on Fruiten Rose & Hoyt Funeral Home and Crematory website (accessed July 25, 2025), https://www.fuitenrosehoyt.com/obituaries/Judge-Albert-R-Musick-Jr?obId=2255364; collection materials; vital records via Ancestry.com.