His mother Amanda would have been 54 at the time of his birth. Perhaps she is not his biological mother. He may have been the son of Reuben Otis Gentry and raised by his grandparents. His obituary says he was the brother of Clifford and Mary Evelyn Gentry, who are children of Reuben Otis Gentry. Census records have him as the son of William R. Gentry.

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Judge William R. Gentry, Sr., who was circuit court judge of the 10th Judicial District for 18 years, died Friday, April.2, 1976, at Baptist Hospital East in Louisville. He was 74.

A native of Jefferson County, he was Nelson County judge from 1950 to 1952,
when he was elected circuit judge. He retired six years ago.

He was a 1925 graduate of Jefferson School of Law and was an attorney in Brandenburg for ten years, and also county attorney of Meade County. He moved to Bardstown in 1935, where he practiced law until he became county judge.

He was executive director of the Stale Workmen's Compensation Board under Gov. Keen Johnson. Since his retirement, he has been special judge by appointment of the Court of Appeals.

He was a member or the Bardstown United Methodist Church, a Mason, and a member of the Knights Templar.

Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Mildred Bondurant Gentry, a son, former State Sen. W. R. Gentry, Jr, who recently was appointed to the Kentucky Public Service Commission; a daughter, Mrs Dale Williams, Salem, Ind. , a sister, Mrs Arthur Masters, Louisville; a brother, Clifford R. Gentry, Florence, and six grandchildren.

The funeral was Monday, April 5th, at 1 p m., at the M H Proffitt Funeral Home, Bardstown. Burial was in the Cap Anderson Cemotery, Brandenburg, assisted by Jenkins-Sturgeon Funeral Home.

The family requested that expressions of sympathy take the form of conlributlons to Nelson County Fiscal Court for restoration of the Nelson County circuit courtroom, recently damaged by fire.


County Attorney of Meade County
County Judge of Nelson County
Circuit Judge 10th District 1952-1970