C. Lacey Compton was born in 1913 in Woodstock and, according to his daughter Bettie Compton, put himself through law school raising honeybees. He graduated from George Washington University in 1935 and in 1938 became a county court judge in Prince William County (the predecessor to what is now the General District Court). In 1939, as the Great Depression began to wane, he was appointed as a Commissioner in Chancery for Prince William Circuit Court for the “settlement of accounts of receivers.”

In 1941, Mr. Compton, along with the six other lawyers comprising the area’s entire legal community at the time, established the Prince William County Bar Association. Today, the Association’s membership is over 500, but the mission of the organization remains the same: namely to maintain the honor and dignity of the practice of law, promote the administration of justice, encourage the professionalism and collegiality of its members, and contribute to the quality of life in the community. Mr. Compton served as the Association’s President in 1963- certainly a good background for his eventual service on the Virginia State Bar Council and the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

In 1950 he began serving as Commissioner of Accounts for Prince William County, a position he maintained until he retired shortly before his death. Tim Cope, the individual who succeeded him in that position had gone to work for Mr. Compton in 1976 after having been advised by a lawyer in Northern Virginia that if you were able to work for Mr. Compton you would be fortunate as Mr. Compton was considered the Dean of the Prince William Bar at that time. Mr. Cope remembers Mr. Compton as a hard worker who expected members of the firm to work just as hard—including Saturday mornings.

When Mr. Compton served as county court judge, a position he held for over twenty years, this was a part-time position. His sons, both of whom became lawyers, recall that the clerk’s office was in their father’s law office. Serving as a judge prevented the senior Compton from handling any trial work so their father built his reputation as a real estate attorney. Lacey Compton, Jr. commented that, “as the county started to grow his father was in a unique position to handle land use cases, most of which were comprised of large developments. He was involved with almost every major development in the county until the late 70s and was instrumental in rezoning Sudley, Lake Ridge, Montclair, Dale City, and Rippon Landing and in rezoning for Manassas Mall and the International Business Machines Corp. in Manassas.

According to Claude Compton, his father “recognized that change was coming to Prince William County, and he was able to get people to trust him that were against some of the changes. Ultimately he represented many of the farmers whose land was under development, helping them obtain a fair value for their property. [He] had a tremendous impact on this area’s growth, impacting public health, economic development, and quality of life for area residents, demonstrating the positive impact of lawyers in our community.”

Apparently, the County Board of Supervisors agreed with this assessment as the Board named a six-acre park in Woodbridge the “C. Lacey Compton Neighborhood Park.”

He was a founding shareholder of what was then Central Mutual Telephone Co., which provided telephone service in Prince William and parts of Fairfax and Stafford counties. Mr. Compton was a former president of the Virginia Independent Telephone Association and had served as president, chairman of the board, vice president, director, and general counsel of Continental Telephone Co. of Virginia. Mr. Compton also had been a director and senior vice president of First Virginia Bank/Manassas National Bank and a director of Piedmont Federal Savings Bank. In addition, he served on various committees of the Virginia Federal Savings and Loan Association.

His civic associations included being an active member of Kiwanis and Rotary. He served for many years as Trustee for the Isaiah Clem Cemetery in Fort Valley, Shenandoah County, Virginia.

Mr. Compton died in 1997 at age 83.