Percy J. Power was born in Farmington, Michigan on May 16, 1897. He received his A.B. degree in 1920 from the University of Michigan and an LL.B. from the Detroit College of Law in 1921, when he was admitted to the Michigan Bar. As an associate of the firm of Warren, Cady, Hill, & Hamblen, in Detroit, Power devoted most of his time to practicing admiralty law. In 1953, Power took of the leadership of this branch of the firm’s practice and became an associate editor of American Maritime Cases. By the time he died, the firm had been renamed Hill, Lewis, Andrews, Goodrich, & Power.

 

Power served as a Seaman 2nd Class in the Navy in WWI (while a U of M student) where he was assigned to Detroit and the St. Clair River Patrol. He also served as a Major in the Army in WWII, when he was stationed in London, Paris, and Versailles with the Maritime Division of the JAG Department. Power retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserves in 1950. He was a member of the Frederick M. Alger American Legion Post, the Military Order of World Wars, and served on the Admissions Committee for the Maritime Law Association of the United States.

 

Percy J. Power was a member of the Detroit Curling Club where he started the Detroit Sinners: a group of curlers who came to the club Sunday morning for a breakfast and a game. During these Sunday sessions, Power was remembered for giving powerful sermons. In 1951, Power was elected president of the Ontario Curling Association. The Association is composed of 120 Curling clubs in the province of Ontario plus one club in the United States in Detroit. Power is the third member of the Detroit Club to attain this high position and the first since 1930. At his death, Power bequeathed $22,474.35 to the Detroit Curling Club. In addition to curling, Power was also a member of the Caravan Club, and the East Side Lawn Bowler Club. Power was also a 32nd Degree Freemason, belonging to Corinthian Masonic Lodge #241, Palestine Chapter of Royal Arch Masons, and the Detroit Consistory.

 

Percy J. Power served as Chancellor of Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity, International, from 1959-1961. As a result of his exemplary legal career, community involvement, and dedication to the fraternity, Percy J. Power’s legacy has been preserved in the form of the International Senate’s memorial award bearing his name, awarded to three distinguished alumni every biennium. When Percy J. Power died in March of 1975, the Western Michigan Univerisity Thomas M. Cooley Law School’s Lansing campus chartered their student senate after this noteworthy attorney.