Emanuel Sylvester Vess Lawbaugh
E. S. Lawbaugh, recently elected MOPH Judge Advocate, was born and raised in St.
Mary, Missouri. He graduated
from Regis College, Denver Colorado,in 1957. At Regis he was a member of the freshmen basketball team and the varsity baseballteam. Vess was a U.S. Marine Corps reservistwhile in college, and rose to the rank of sergeant while servingwith the Denverbased155 Gun Battalion, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. After collegehe was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. He spent two years on active duty; then returned to Missouri,
where he coached high school football,basketball and baseball for four years.He was named "Old Settlement Conference Coach of the
Year" in 1961. Duringthe period as a civilian, Vess earneda Master's Degree in Education at the
University of Missouri in 1962. When the Vietnam situation
began heating up, Vess volunteered to returnto active duty. He integrated with a regular comrnission in the U.S. Marine Corps. He served two tours in Vietnam. In 1965 he was with the 2nd Battalion, 12th Marines and in 1969-'70 with the 5th/ 7th Communications Battalions. He was wounded in action on 12 August 1969, spent four months recovering at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Guam and returned to Vietnam in December. During his career in the Marine Corps,Vess commanded five platoons,two Companies, and the
Communications Squadron in the 1st Marine
Air Wing. His service schools inducted the Command and StaffCollege in 1976, and the Industrial College of the Anned Forres in 1978. Hewas selected for the Marine Corps Advanced Degree Program and receivedhis doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Mississippi in 1972.Vess' lasttour in the Marine Corps was in Annapolis, MD, where he served as Marine Corps Director at ECAC, a joint Command. Upon retirement from the MarineCorps in 1981,Vess attended theUniversity of Arkansas and received
his Juris Doctorate Degree in 1984. He took a job as Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Yankton College in SouthDakota. In 1985, he moved toBuena Vista University in Iowa as Director of Development andLegal Advisor. In 1990, he and his wife, Sonja, returned to Arkansas. Vess then began specializing in Criminal Law as both a defensecounsel and as city prosecutor in Westville, Oklahoma.
