Interview with retired Judge Rudolph Bumgardner, III, on September 18, 2025.
View the oral history interview of retired Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Bumgardner, III, or read the transcript. This interview was conducted in Staunton, Virginia on September 18, 2025 by Gail Warren, retired Virginia State Law Librarian.
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Judge Rudolph Bumgardner III was born in Staunton, Virginia in 1941. After graduating from Davidson College (A.B., 1963) and Washington and Lee University School of Law (LL.B., 1966), he served on active duty with U.S. Army Europe and continued his military commitment through the Virginia Army National Guard until 1986.
He served as a judge of the Augusta County Court from 1970-1973 and was later elected to the Twenty-Fifth Judicial Circuit bench in 1978, where he served as chief judge from 1983 to 1997. He was then appointed by Governor George Allen to the Court of Appeals of Virginia, retiring in 2005 and continuing as a senior judge through 2018.
In this oral history, Judge Bumgardner reflects on his full life, including his upbringing in the Shenandoah Valley, his military service, his family, his legal career, and his nearly four decades on the bench.