John Andrew Love

John Andrew Love, known as “Johnnie,” was born on March 9, 1910, in Forest Chapel, Texas.

Love attended his freshman year of college at the University of Arkansas before transferring to the University of Texas, where he received a master's degree in business administration.

He graduated during the Great Depression and was unable to find a position working in a bank.

In 1934, Love moved to Sudan, Texas, bringing three mules and three horses with him in a boxcar. He farmed for several years before purchasing land in the Needmore community.

During this period, he also taught school in Sudan and Circle Back.

In 1940, Love married Malone Hughes, a teacher from Paris, Texas. The couple moved to Morton in 1941.

Malone continued teaching in the Morton school system, while Love continued purchasing land in Bailey, Cochran, Red River, Lamar, Ward, and Pecos counties.

Love served on the Morton City Council before being elected Cochran County judge in 1962. He entered office on January 1, 1963, and served through December 31, 1966.

After completing his service as county judge, Love served as mayor of Morton. He remained in that position until failing health required him to retire in 1979.

John Andrew Love died on December 25, 1980, in Paris, Lamar County, Texas, at the age of 70. He was buried at Presbyterian Cemetery in Chicota, Texas.

Biography source: Adapted from Texas Sesquicentennial: Texas' Last Frontier, Cochran County, 1836–1986, Volume 1 . Copyright Cochran County Historical Commission. Written by Malone Love circa 1985 and adapted by Mary Helen McKnight in 2016.