Gary Trawick is a native of Pender County. He was graduated from Burgaw High School in the class of 1963. He attended the UNC Wilmington for one year before transferring to the UNC Chapel Hill. He received a BS in Business Administration in 1966 and Juris Doctor in 1969, both from UNC Chapel Hill.

While in law school he worked in the North Carolina Collection at the school’s Wilson Library where, with the encouragement of curator William Powell, he began writing freelance articles for major North Carolina newspapers and “The State” magazine. This lead to his being commissioned to write “100 Years-100 Men” for the hundredth anniversary of Edwards and Broughton Publishing Company.

After passing the North Carolina Bar exam and being licensed to practice law, he returned to his hometown of Burgaw to begin his law practice. The beginning of his law practice was interrupted by six months of basic and advanced infantry training with the North Carolina Army National Guard. He was an active member of the Guard for six years.

He had a general practice in Burgaw until 1990 when he was elected a Superior Court Judge. He served as a resident Superior Court Judge until 1995. In 1999 he was appointed by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. as a Special Superior Court Judge. He was re-appointed to this position by Governors Purdue and Easley. He retired as a Superior Court Judge after twenty-four years of service to the State.

While an active judge, Judge Trawick, held court in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties, being only one of eight judges to have accomplished this. In 2001 he was named the Outstanding Trial Judge of the State by the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers.

Judge Trawick’s interest in writing and history followed him from his college days. He continued to write articles and stories for newspapers and magazines such as The Deacon, North Carolina Wildlife, etc. He wrote and performed more than twenty-five commentaries for WHQR Public Radio. In 2012 he wrote a history of his home county, Born in Reconstruction - The Story of Pender County, which was awarded the Clarendon Award by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society. The Country Bookshop, in 2018, published a collection of Judge Trawick’s essays in a book titled, Give Them Another Chance.

Judge Trawick began dating Jennings Jarrett while both were seniors at Burgaw High School. They married in 1967 and have three children, Evans, Sarah, and Helen and eight grandchildren. He says he doubts he would have accomplished much in life except for the woman he married.