Judge John Vasquez Appointed to AARP Texas Executive Council

Retired Austin Municipal Judge John Vasquez, now a San Antonio resident, is the newest member of the AARP Texas Executive Council.

Vasquez served as a municipal judge for nearly 20 years—from 1996-2015. A graduate of the University of Texas School Of Law, he was elected chair of the Municipal Judges Section of the State Board of Texas. He has served as special counsel to the state auditor and chief of the Charitable Trusts Section of the state attorney general’s office.

Vasquez’s family has deep Texas roots, dating back to at least 1848. He grew up in San Antonio, where he graduated from high school at age 16. He then went on to attend the University of Texas at Arlington, where he graduated at age of 19. After graduating from law school, Vasquez lived in Austin for the next 32 years, where he raised his three daughters with his wife, María.

His days on the bench behind him, Vasquez decided to reach out to AARP because he was looking to serve his community in new ways. He got in touch with Joe Sánchez, who helps lead the Association’s work in San Antonio, and the rest is history.

“Volunteering locally has been a great opportunity for me,” Vasquez says.

Registering people to vote at a local middle school in San Antonio has been Vasquez’s favorite activity so far. Teachers got registered during the day, and parents participated after school. Volunteers also handed out small cards with voting dates on them.

“Many people don’t know whether they’re registered or not,” Vasquez says. So, computer in hand, Vasquez and other volunteers looked up people’s voter registration status on the county website.

Vasquez enjoys traveling in their spare time. Most recently, he and his wife visited Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta. Vasquez is also an avid reader and recently related to his life transition into retirement.

This time of his life, he says, “is an opportunity to make a difference, to do things you want to do with better satisfaction.”

Looking to the future, he says he looks forward to his volunteer work continuing to be rewarding.

“It takes all of us. People have real needs; I took that to heart when I was on the bench. You have to give back to your community to help people who need help,” he says.