THE HONORABLE POLLY JACKSON SPENCER served as Probate Judge No. 1 in San Antonio, Texas for twenty-four years. With a specialization and board certification in Probate Law with Estate Planning, Mental Health Law and Condemnation Law, Judge Spencer advocated for the disabled, elderly, and recently deceased. 

Born Caroline Warren Jackson on January 13, 1948 to Charles H. Jackson Jr and Ruth Warren. Judge Spencer joined a family that practiced real estate and probate law. She inherited this legacy from her father. In 1976, Judge Spencer was admitted into St. Mary’s University School of Law and upon graduation she began practicing law in Houston, Texas at Fulbright and Jaworski. Soon she moved back to San Antonio with her husband George Hutchins Spencer, whom she married on May 14, 1977 and started practicing in the same building her father started in 1932. 

Judge Spencer was elected to Probate Court Judge No. 1 in 1990 and ran unopposed till 2014 when she declined to run again. In 2010, her accomplishments were recognized with the St. Mary’s University School of Law Distinguished Graduate Award. Throughout twenty-four years of service Judge Spencer advocated for improving the health and wellbeing of Bexar County Residents. 

By: Katherine Skrabanek, St. Mary’s University Law Fellows in Public History, 2023.

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