Nov. 22--Henry B. Troutman Jr.'s name was legal royalty in Georgia, but he slipped under the radar during his years in the Lowcountry, quietly helping alcoholics reclaim their lives.

He died a month ago, shortly after celebrating his 31st anniversary of sobriety.

By then, the 86-year-old's face was disfigured by cancer. He'd lost an ear and was all but deaf and blind.

But it was his own willingness to see beyond glaring blemishes in the lives of others that set him apart. It enabled Troutman to inspire others to recovery.

One island alcoholic nearing seven years of sobriety said she was a mess when she finally reached out for help. She was in pajamas when she showed up for her first 12-step meeting.

"Henry looked past all of that," she said. "He was so soft-spoken, so kind and encouraging. To say he was an incredible soul is a great understatement."

Troutman's pedigree would have allowed him to look down on such jagged edges of life. He had the finest addresses and most powerful friends. He could have passed on the other side of the road and pretended the hurt didn't exist. But that's not the path he took, and it made all the difference.

As a young man in Atlanta, he followed his father into the family law firm. He served his country in World War II and came home to study law at the University of Georgia, where he'd been president of the Chi Phi fraternity. The roll of his fraternity brothers reads like a who's who in modern Georgia history, with names like former Gov. Carl Sanders and former Atlanta Falcons owner Rankin Smith.

Troutman practiced law for 30 years. About the time he left the firm, there was a merger in 1972 and it is today known as Troutman Sanders. It has more than 650 lawyers in 15 offices on three continents.

Troutman always was interested in being his own person, said his daughter, Mary "Stick" Carroll, who moved to Hilton Head in 1978.

Troutman and his late wife, Mary Pringle Troutman, were certainly marching alone when they got into selling seashells far from the seashore.

"They'd both spent substantial time on St. Simons Island growing up," Rick Badie wrote in Troutman's obituary in the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "She collected seashells. In the 1970s, Mrs. Troutman ran a frame shop -- Mary Troutman's Added Touch -- in Buckhead. She adorned it with seashells from her personal collection. Customers were always asking to buy them. A business was born."

It grew to three shops in Atlanta and two wholesale outlets. To the affable Henry Troutman, it was fun. But, like law, it was not his passion.

Troutman found his passion after recovery. He became a certified addiction counselor in the 1980s and soon was helping people across the Southeast to piece their fractured lives back together.

He founded the Lawyer Assistance Program for the State Bar of Georgia, earning him its Lifetime Achievement Award and touching countless lives. He worked on intervention and counseling for legal professionals who needed help with alcohol and drug abuse and psychological issues. That program has been adopted in other states.

"Henry put together a network of attorneys throughout Georgia, and at any given time, 100 or so attorneys would be directly helped by this confidential network," said Steve Jones, clinical director of the Lawyers Assistance Program. "They were called 'Legal Eagles.'"

To the attorneys, Troutman was known as a soft-spoken man but "tough as nails, honest and very straightforward," Jones said.

Troutman moved to Hilton Head in 2001 to get relief from asthma and be near Stick and Patrick Carroll, and their children.

He became an institution in the local recovery community, a courageous group that by design keeps a low profile. Before meetings, he puttered around with the coffee machine, trying to make it as good as he was used to getting at the Cracker Barrel restaurant.

During the daily recovery meetings, he was quiet. But when he spoke, everyone listened.

Others saw in him the serenity they pray for. They saw him living the written principles of the 12 steps they hash and rehash, day in and day out. And they saw him reach the ultimate goal -- a goal far better than even personal sobriety.

"If we don't give this away to others, there's no way we can keep it," a friend said.

A large crowd attended Troutman's memorial service in Atlanta. His daughter was surprised at how many people came up to her -- including some of her childhood friends -- and said, "Your father saved my life."

Troutman's three children and grandchildren will hold a private memorial service on Hilton Head on Thanksgiving Day.

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Copyright (c) 2009, The Island Packet, Hilton Head Island, S.C.

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